The Shield of Life
by Talonclawfange
Summary: (I wish you could put three genres cuz I'd put romance, too...) After his run-in with Ganondorf Link is helped, and Hyrule castle continues to prepare for when Ganon attacks. But with so many things wittling away at Link's heart, can he beat Ganondorf?
1. The Shield of Life 1,2

Tal says: thanks so much for the reviews! -does a little dance- I'm do glad to have some regular readers, and I'm really glad you guys like it! Sorry for the cliffhangar, LinkSage, I couldn't resist! -grins- er, anyways...let's get to the story.

**_The Shield of Life_**  
  
By: Sonnet A.K.A. Talonclawfange  
  
( E-mail me at , but not if you're going to give me sick advertisements! I DONT WANT THEM!! I'M ONLY 16! Just feedback, please.)  
  
Disclaimer: blah blah I know ya don't want to read a long disclaimer, so...I don't own Zelda! Yeah, I got the mancreatue thing from Princess Mononoke...hey, it's funny!

Note: This one's a bit longer than Threat to Life...By the way, despite what pervs might think about what Raykel says in sec 4, he was not gay with Cosha. And in sec 6, Ganon is not gay with Llance, either. So you people get you minds out of the gutter. I hope this story will be my best since it will it will be Link's last one in Hyrule (I really mean it this time). It'll be more action packed and more...fluffy...than the rest. Those of you who don't like lovey-dovey stuff I apologize. Those who do, your day has come. Those who don't like violence: well, you better not read this. It's PG-13, there's NO sexual themes or foul language, but there's lots of violence and blood and fluff. Enjoy!  
  
**Section 1  
  
The New Sage of Light**  
  
_There's nothing I can do_, Link thought, his mind fogging annoyingly. _I'm dying..._ The flesh around his wound was getting numb and cold, a contrast to the warm blood pouring from it. _My blood's pouring right through my fingers, soaking the ground....my_ life _is soaking the ground...._Link heard some commotion around him and opened his eyes. There was a reddish black furry thing in front of his face, but it was distorted strangely. He heard a wierd low noise like someone talking under water.  
  
"Link! Hello? I think he's dead, Saroe..."  
  
"Don't be rediculous!" Saroe groaned, standing up. She put a paw over the slash on her chest that Ganondorf had given her and healed it mostly. "We didn't get to the castle and hear Link was gone, then fly all the way over here as fast as we could just to find him dead!"  
  
"Silov, you had me worried..." Coflix said, walking over to her. They embraced and licked eachother's snouts for a few seconds, then Saroe broke off and ran over to Link.  
  
_ Stop....making wierd noises. Don't...slap my face..._Link thought numbly. The huge pain in his gut was lessening. He almost welcomed it, then realized what was happening. Lessening of pain was not good. Dying was kind of scary...at this point Link couldn't see anything. He was in a black abyss, with no companion but pain. He would have thought he was already dead if not for that pain. He felt more warm liquid rise in his throat, and he resisted a strong urge to sleep...  
  
"Coflix, don't argue! There's no other choice! There's no way my normal magic can heal that. I must use the ancient calwot magic!" Saroe yelled.  
  
"But Saroe, that magic only works for calwot kittens who are related to you by blood. He's not a calwot, and he's not related to you!" Coflix growled.  
  
"He's right, Your Majesty." Another calwot said. "Even when used on calwot kittens, it is very risky to the user's health. If you perform it on this human, you may very well kill yourself!"  
  
"I don't care! Link...just look at him! Look at that pool of blood! If I don't do something, and I mean now, he's a dead boy. And besides, we are close...I feel like he is my kitten. Love is the main ingredient to the calwot magic, it was created inside every calwot mother centuries ago when calwots first disregarded part of their proud nature. They started truly loving their kittens; taking care of them instead of leaving them shortly after birth like before. It will work! I'm going to use it!" Saroe said, kneeling next to Link. He was barely breathing, the red pool around him growing with every passing second. Coflix stretched out his hand and almost protested, afraid for his mate's safety. But she was one pig-headed calwot. Once she made up her mind, no one could stop her. She leaned down and placed both paws and her cheek on Link's back. She felt a warm, rushing sensation in her body._ It's working_! She thought, her world becoming enveloped in light.   
  
But the onlooking calwots saw something quite different. They saw their queen glow slightly. Then she went unconscious and the glow spread to Link; but after that nothing happened. The Hylian's wound did not close up, and he did not awaken. The light faded and neither Hylian nor calwot moved.  
  
"Saroe!" Coflix yelled, leaning down and cradling his mate. He found to his relief that she was still breathing. He then looked a little closer at Link's wound, and observed that there was a thin white mist covering it, stopping the bleeding. It would keep him alive for a little while.  
  
"We must take her and Link to the Great Fairy in the desert!" Coflix declared.  
  
"Begging your pardon Majesty, but what is that?" A reddish-brown male cat asked. He was Dhimun.  
  
"Link told Saroe of the Great Fairies, and she told me of them. There is one here in the desert, but we must fly over a sandstorm to find it. Somebody grab Link. It better be you, Dhimun, since you have red-brown fur..."  
  
"Yes, King Colfix." Dhimun said, easily lifting the limp Hylian. He was covered in blood, but Dhimun was not a squeemish calwot and didn't complain.  
  
"You three...carry that horse over there. Since it doesn't look evil, it must be Link's. Get the fairy, too. Oh, I almost forgot...the Hylians don't know what's happened. Leal, you are the fastest, you take the news to them. May the wind be at your back."  
  
"May the wind be at your back, King." Leal said, getting a running start and flying towards Hyrule Castle. Coflix opened his wings and leapt into the sky, carrying Saroe. The cats carrying Link and Epona followed, then the rest. They spiraled upward in a graceful formation, and as soon as they were high enough to spot the desert of illusions and its giant, constant sandstorm, Coflix led the way to it.

Leal the light tannish-grey calwot tore through the sky, his skinny body and large black wings carrying him at great speed toward the castle. He got there in a mere fifty minutes, and saw some Hylian guards on the battlements, eagerly awaiting his arrival. The calwot gracefully landed on the wall above them, sitting and curling his tail around his legs.   
  
"The princess will be here momentarily, friend." A soldier said, "Then you can give us your news." A few moments later Zelda came running up the stone steps and over to the cat; with Chain, Taig, Cyphas and Impa following her.   
  
"Did you find Link? Please tell me you found him...why are you the only one back?" Zelda asked.   
  
"I regret to tell you some troubling news, Princess. Link has recieved a very lethal wound. Our Queen Saroe attempted to use ancient calwot healing magic on him, but she became unconscious in the middle of the process. Link's bleeding stopped, but I cannot guarantee either he or Saroe is alive now..." Leal said, sadness covering his feline features. Zelda looked extremely worried. "King Coflix spoke of a Great Fairy. The calwots are taking Link and Saroe to her now, and I pray they find her. They will return as soon as they are fit, I suppose."  
  
"This is terrible..." Zelda said quietly, putting a hand over her mouth.  
  
"Link! He's gonna get it for worrying u-uh...you, Princess!" Cyphas said, punching her hand. Taig and Chain looked at each other hopefully.   
  
"Shouldn't some of us go help?" Taig asked.  
  
"No, King Coflix has all the help he needs. If the flock of flying creatures were any bigger, it would attract attenion and perhaps draw an attack from Ganondorf's Fortress. All we can do is wait, I'm afraid." Leal said, hopping down from the wall next to the small group. "So...I take it the main fleet has not arrived yet?" Leal asked.  
  
"No, it hasn't." Zelda responded. They were talking about Sahoriel and Cirokaal, who were flying toward the castle along with their huge black-cloud-shrouded fortress. All of the calwots, griffons and dragons would arrive with them. The zoras, gorons, and sea griffons would arrive some time soon as well. "But they should come tonight...along with their huge, black cloud dragon fortress, large enough to house all of the flying races's armies so they wont have to camp on Hyrule Field."   
  
"Hey, black clouds remind me...I had a really wierd dream last night, Zelda-" Chain began, but Zelda cut him off, staring wide-eyed at the sky.  
  
"What is that?" Zelda asked, pointing toward the skies Leal had just come from, across Hyrule Field. Everyone on the battlements looked that direction, and to their horror they saw an enormous demon dragon flying to the castle. "Leal, you didn't notice that thing following you?"   
  
"No, I fly so fast that it was eating my dust and I never heard it." The cat said, forming a ball of ice over his paw. Immediately the guards on the battlements sounded the alarm, alerting all the soldiers in the coutyard of an attack. The demon dragon was so large that it was apon the castle in moments, the wind from its wings nearly flooring the Hylains as it flew over. It circled around, roaring menacingly, and swooped at the castle. Then the red-eyed monster opened its great, razor-toothed maw to breathe blackish fire on the group of Royal Guards below. Zelda quickly summoned a huge shield of light, casting it over the gurads to portect them as they fired arrows at the dragon. The beast was so huge that the arrows glanced harmlessly off its black scales. Leal threw his ball of ice at the demon dragon's wings, freezing a small part of one.  
  
"Aim for the wings!" Zelda shouted, her shield fading as the dragon flew high into the sky. As the dragon swooped and breathed fire again, a thick volley of arrows plunged into its great wings. Zelda again created a shield so the men wouldn't be burned, but knew she couldn't do it for much longer. A shield of that size and strength could not be mantained easily. Chain shot fire arrows (Link had taught it to him) at the demon dragon's wings, and Impa and Cyphas threw blades at it (Chain dimly wondered where Cyphas kept the kunai-like blades. He hand't realized she had any, but she was known for concealing her weapons well...). With the combined rain of sharp projectiles assaulting the demondragon's wings, it began to have trouble flying. It stopped breating fire and roared in pain, dropping to the ground and nearly squashing a troop of soldiers in the process. Now that the dragon could no longer fly, it would only anger the beast to continue attacking its wings. The soldiers couldn't do much.  
  
"Try to hit its soft inner mouth, but careful not to get eaten!" Zelda yelled, wondering where her father was. Wasn't he supposed to lead the battles? Well, he had piles of supply difficulties to figure out since the zoras and gorons would be staying in the castle. He had probably just heard the roaring and would come out to lead his forces any time now...  
  
Zelda and Chain stayed on the battlements to have a clear casting path, but the rest jumped down to attack the dragon. Taig got to it first, just as it was snapping at some men. Taig nimbly jumped through its mouth, grabbing its tongue on the way, and pulled the tongue out to the side of the dragon's maw. As the dragon closed its jaws, expecting to crush a soldier, it instead chomped down on its own pink tongue.  
  
"GGGRRRAAARRRGGGG!!!" It roared loudly, exposing its vulnerable gums and throat. Arrows and blades found the mouth, along with a blast of light magic from Zelda. The dragon's head was thrown downwards from the force and it roared again, blood pouring from its mouth (its head was pointing at the ground as it roared, so nobody could attack it during that). Angry from being hit with light magic, the dragon turned on Zelda. It stomped toward the wall Zelda was on, intent on destroying the neusance. Impa, Cyphas and many soldiers got it its path and tried to stop it, but were only pushed aside by its huge paws. As it got close it opened its huge mouth, black fire spewing out before anyone could shoot it, and it was all Zelda could do to raise a light shield over herself, sending the black fire deflecting everywhere. Chain crouched and got behind her, having no defense against black fire. Zelda stalwartly maintained her sheild for a few moments, but she was weakening from the repeated use of powerful spells. Nobody could hit the dragon's mouth to stop it either, for any projectile shot there was instantly disintegrated by the fire.   
  
It seemed to be hopeless, but then Chain stood up. Suprising Zelda, he held out his arms to either side and bright spheres of light formed over them. He threw the spheres at the dragon. They sped away, swirling in an abnormal flight path, but hitting the dragon's neck anyways, in an incredibly effective explosion. The hit was very well aimed, and had just enough power to kill the dragon. It roared and slumped to the ground, its neck bleeding everywhere. King Hyrule bealatedly burst out of a castle door below, and Zelda turned to Chain, astounded. He smiled sheepishly.  
  
"Um...Zelda? My dream last night had a huge owl named Kaepora Gaebora and this old, fat, bald Hylian in it..."

"There it is!" Coflix screamed over the howling of the wind. "That's the eye of the storm!" He dived down toward the calm area, his cats following closely. The harsh wind threw them around a bit, but once they got past that they found the eye to be perfectly calm. They landed on the soft, warm sand below, looking around and suprisingly not seeing the storm they had just gotten out of. What they saw was a clear, blue sky. It was truly a desert of illusions. "Now then...Saroe told me that Link said the cave was in a wall, not in that huge statue of a goddess over there. It was a wall blown open by a bomb..."  
  
"King it be that hole over there?" Cimtu, a pure white male calwot, pointed to a hole blown in a rock wall. The calwots rushed over to it and enterred, just as green cactus-looking monsters were popping out of the sand and spinning toward them. The cats had a little trouble squeezing Epona (still limp and heavy) into the small entrance, but they managed to get in before the cactus monsters reached them. Inside the cave it was dark and damp, and after traveling down a tunnel for a minute or two, thay came to a beautiful room. The walls were covered by shining, colorful water which was falling down at a strangely slow rate. In the middle of the room was a stone basin and a clear, blue pool. The whole room reverbarated with faint magical harp music. The calwots were momentarily surprised, but being creatures of magic, were not shocked for long. _This has to be it_, Coflix thought. _But nothing's happening...what do we do?  
  
_ "Ahem...Great Fairy! Is this your cave? Come out, please!" Coflix yelled. His words echoed off the walls, but nothing happened. "Hm, strange. Great Fairy! We have wounded individuals and we desparetaly need your help, or they'll die!" Even as Colfix said it, Dhimun gave a short gasp and put Link down.   
  
"He's begun bleeding again, King Coflix..." The reddish cat said solemnly.  
  
"Blast it! Great Fairy, we need you! Are you not here? Answer me! Is this your cave or not?!" Coflix carefully put down Saroe and leapt over to the pool of water. "Show yourself!!" He reached down a paw and made a splash in the water. Instantly the whole room got a lot darker, and the falling water surrounding the room turned the color of blood. "What the heck? Is this a fairy cave or a demon cave?!" Coflix shouted, jumping back in alarm as the pool of water rippled and bubbled.   
  
"WHO HAS DISTURBED THE HOLY FAIRY'S WATER?" A deep woman's voice boomed, and a large, skinny femal emerged from the seemingly shallow pool, spinning and wreathed in flames. Her three ponytails of pink hair flowed out behind her and her only clothing was a strange design of green leaves. Her eyes were red as she gazed down at the bewildered calwots, then she spotted Link. All the flames dissappeared and the room turned back to normal. "Oh, you're Link's friends. Why did you say so?! I get Gerudos trying to summon me all the time, and they are not worthy of my magic...but friends of Link are friends of mine, hahahahaah!" She laughed blissfully, smiling. The calwots heaved a collective sigh of relief.  
  
"Great Fairy, please heal my mate and Link..." Coflix began, but the fairy shushed him, grinning and forming some magic in her hands. The calwots shifted indignantly at their leader being shushed, but didn't say anything.   
  
"All who are weary and worthy of great things may come to my cave and recieve relief. Recieve this now, Hero of Time!" Blue, spiraling magic radiated down apon Link, and the calwots watched in amazement as the hole in his stomach closed up. "Recieve this now, Queen of Calwots...the proud race of flying cats!" The same magic came apon Saroe, encricling her. "I have done what I can do. The Hero of Time has lost much blood...and he may yet die if his will is not strong. But, I know that it is. Keep him warm. As for the Queen of Calwots, she will recover strength in a matter of hours. Link's horse and fairy merely need rest.  
  
"An enormous sandstorm will shortly cover the desert of illusions, rendering the act of leaving this place impossible. You cannot stay in this place, calwots. Quickly go to the Goddess of the Sand. Now I leave you. If you are weary of battle, come back to me...friends of the Hero. Ahahahahah!" Laughing happily, the giant fairy raised her hands above her head and spiraled feet-first back into her small pool. The calwots were silent for a few moments.  
  
"That was freaky," A greyish-blue female cat with white stripes muttered.  
  
"I heard that! Get out!" The fairy's voice bellowed, making the cats practically jump out of their skins. They rushed out quickly, into the open air. But, it was not so open anymore. The formerly clear skies were replaced by a swirling vortex of sand, spinning around the large clearing. It seemed to be getting smaller, so the cats ran/flew over to the Spirit Temple (in a giant statue of a Gerudo-like godess) and got in. In a matter of minutes the sandstorm closed in apon the temple, and the cats could only wait for the storm to end, trapped in their statue prison.  
  
**Section 2  
  
A New Look**  
  
Link stood face-to-face with the King of Evil, Ganondorf. He was laughing crazily, watching Link suffer from some unseen attack. Then he kicked Link, sending him over the edge of some great void. The void seemed to suck him down, evil voices beckoning to him, telling him to join them. Link sprung a pair of black wings, flying and getting free of the void. Once he was free the wings vanished, making him plummet the the cold, hard ground before Ganondorf, who was still laughing. Link got to his feet slowly, feeling strangely weak and small.  
  
"DIE, HERO OF TIME!" Ganondorf shoved his blade to the hilt in Link, and red covered everything...  
  
"Ahhhh!" Link sat up, clutching the wound in his gut, but there was none. A cold sweat covered his body and he was panting. "What? No wound...ugh..." Link laid back down, his head pounding painfully.  
  
"Link, are you okay? Thank goodness you're awake...I think you were having a nightmare or something." A kind voice said. Link forced his tired eyes to focus, and Saroe's furry, white, black-spotted, cheetah-like face came into view. "Whew! You had us worried, Link. You've been out for two days."  
  
"What?! Two days? Ughhh..." Link head hurt more when he yelled, and now he regretted it.  
  
"Take it easy, buddy! By the way, Epona is fine, but she's really hungry. And your fairy...well, she's not in good shape. She's still asleep." Saroe said quietly. Epona had been napping and woke from the commotion. She quickly came over to Link and began to lick his face repeatedly.  
  
"Aw man...hi, Epona." Link said, grimacing as he wiped the horse's slimey saliva off his face. Link sat up again, groaning.   
  
"Link, you need to rest-" Saroe protested, trying to push him back down.  
  
"No, I have to see Navi. Where is she?" Link asked, ignorring his annoying headache. He tried to stand up and failed. "Ugh! I hate being weak!" He complained, sitting again. Saroe smiled compassionately.  
  
"Shush, you. The rest of the calwots are sleeping." She said. Link looked around and saw it was true. He and about twenty calwots were all in the Spirit Temple, and he heard a fiercely howling wind outside. "I'll bring your fairy." Saroe retrieved Navi and carefully brought the fairy to Link, handing her to him. The fairy's glow was dimmer than it usually was, and though she was breathing like normal, she seemed to be sick and weak. She was unconscious, but didn't have the look of someone sleeping. She looked almost poisoned. "She's been like that the whole time." Saroe said.  
  
"Dangit...that black magic must have effected her. I have to get her back to the forest. If only I had my ocarina!" Link growled, slamming his free fist into the ground beside him. "Why did Ganon take it, anyways? I forgot to ask him...he's gonna get it for this..."  
  
"Link, I don't know if you've forgotten, but he just ran you through! You're lucky to be alive, so I don't think you'll be doing any getting of Ganondorfs unitl you're stronger."  
  
"You're right...shoot, he really whipped me. Thanks for saving me, by the way. If you and your people hadn't shown up, I'd be toast." Link took off his hat and put it on the ground, laying Navi on it. He then crossed his arms over his knees and rested his head on them. "I wonder if I can even beat Ganondorf...he seems so much stronger! But how? How did he beat me so easily? First my back and now my stomach...the next fatal wound he gives me could truly be the last..." Saroe was quiet, waiting to see if Link would say more, but he decided not to. Dwelling on such things could lower morale, and if Link didn't fight with spirit, how could he ever hope to win? If he lost his spirit, he might even lose his bravery...  
  
"Well, I'm sure you'll beat him next time, right? All you need is extra training or something. But for now, all we can do is wait for the storm to end so we can fly outta here. I suggest you get some more rest."  
  
"But I've been sleeping for two days! I need some exercise!" Link stomach growled loudly. "And food..." He said, holding it embarassedly.  
  
"Yeah, we could all use some of that, buddy. I hope this ends before we all starve. But anyways, I'm going back to my cat nap. I better not catch you exerting yourself before your blood has had sufficient time to regenerate!" Saroe said sternly.  
  
"Oh, all right." Link said, laying down on the hard floor again. Epona and Saroe went back to sleep. Despite the many things plaguing Link's mind and his desire for movement, he found that he was quite exhausted. He was worried that he might dream of getting run through again, but fear of dreams never stopped him from sleeping before. He fell asleep quickly.

When Link awoke it was strangely quiet. _The wind has stopped_, he realized. _But then that would mean the storm's over, and the calwots would have woken me.._.Link opened his eyes and sat up, moaning because his head still felt like a ton of lead. It took his eyes a few seconds to focus, then he realized why it was so quiet. Directly in front of Link was a Gerudo, holding Saroe at swordpoint. Link gasped and looked around, finding that the other calwots all had blades to their throats as well. They had been ambushed in their sleep.  
  
"Hahahah, we've got you now, Hero of Time! Caught you sleeping, didn't we? You fools should have posted a watch. Didn't you know Gerudos can survive and even travel through very fierce sandstorms?" Link recognized the woman and slowly got to his feet. To his relief, he found that he had the strength to stand, but he felt a little wobbly.  
  
"That wasn't your attitude a year ago, Gerudo. What was it? 'Oh, this man is a fine thief, welcome to the Gerudo's Fortress'!" Link snapped angrilly. "Now that Ganons back, it's all the sudden 'off with his head'?"  
  
"Of course. He is our King, and he wants you dead. Now come along, or your pet gets it..." The woman said, raising her blade. All of the calwots growled indignantly.  
  
"I AM NOT A PET!" Saroe screamed. She may have lacked most of the ordinary calwot ego, but when it came to dirty insults, she was as hot-tempered as the next cat. This sudden burst of sound startled the Gerudo and Saroe elbowed her. The other cats took advantage of their captors' surprise and escaped as well. The Gerudos that weren't hurt by their former prisoners leapt at Link, and there was about eight of them.   
  
"Kai-ten-giri!" Link yelled, spinning and creating a huge ring of red fire that KOd the Gerudos (because they were jumping at him, they were too close to block the attack in time).  
  
"Well, I see you've gotten your strength back!" Saroe said happily. Link collapsed. "Eh, I guess not...poor guy shouldn't even be standing," The calwot muttered. "Well, it's time we get out of here."

After that, the calwots gathered up Link, Epona and Navi (now that Epona was awake, it was hard to carry the heavy, frightened horse, so four calwots had to carry her). As the cats were leaving, they inevitably had to go over Gerudo's Fortress. They were high and partly behind clouds so they wouldn't get spotted, but Link looked down at the fortress as they passed.  
  
"Saroe, look! Where on earth did he get all those dragons?! There must be a dozen of them!" Link said in awe. He also saw some strange-looking black beasts walking around, but was too high to tell what they were.  
  
"He must have summoned them with magic," Saroe said. "The place reeks of evil power." The cats flew as quick as they could away from the place, but by then several were tiring. They hadn't had anything to eat in days, and flying was quite arduous without a proper diet. Saroe made Link aware of the problem, and he told them of the old scientist who lived at Lake Hylia. That place was much closer than the castle, and the scientist would surely have a bit of food he could spare. They didn't need much, because Saroe and Coflix could magically multiply whatever amount they got to accomodate all the cats (and Hylian).  
  
When they got to the lake, the calwots followed Link's directions to the old man's house and he happily gave them a meal; which Saroe and Coflix multiplied until there was plenty for all. Epona was grazing nearby, and Link had never seen her munch grass so fast in his life. She was fast enough to be an instant lawn mower, but Link didn't care because he ate pretty fast himself. He was famished, but knew he would regret his eating speed later. In his condidtion, it could easily give him a stomach ache. After the cats had eaten and recovered their strength, the group left for the castle. It took them an hour and a half to get there, and Link saw to his delight that the black-cloud-covered dragon's Flying Fortress had finally arrived, along with all three flying races from the mountains. As eager as he was to see old friends, Link asked Saroe to take him beyond the castle, to the Kokiri forest, and his horse also. She obliged, soaring quickly there along with the cats carrying Epona. They landed outside and put their passengers down.  
  
"I can't express my gratitude to you cats for both saving me and taking me here. Thank you very much. I'm going to drop off Navi, then ride back to the castle on Epona." Link said, taking Navi out from under his hat and watching the calwots leave (after Saroe had given him a quick hug). Link enterred the forest, and after a few minutes of walking came to the Kokiri village. Navi began stirring. "Navi! You're okay!" Link said a bit too loudly.   
  
"Heylookwatchoutlisten!" Navi yelled so fast Link could barely tell what she was saying. She sat bolt upright, her eyes wide open. "Oh, I'm not in a battle...hello, Link!"  
  
"Whew, I was beginning to worry that Ganondorf's magic had hurt you for good, partner." Link said. "But it came awful close. You know what that means, Navi..." Navi was now fully awake, and though she felt a bit weak, she was perfectly aware enough to know what Link was talking about. She hung her head sadly.  
  
"So, you really can sense my health...well, there's no point if decieving you anymore, Link. You know as well as I do that if I get so close to dark magic again, I'll die." Navi said. Link nodded. "Well, I don't care! Let me die, if it means I'm protecting you! You need me Link, we're partners! You can't leave me here...I won't allow it!!"   
  
"Navi...you're a wonderful friend. I'm lucky to have you, but you're forgetting something all Kokiris learn about their fairies..." Link said quietly.  
  
"Oh yeah...now that I'm in this weakened state I can't leave the forest even if I wanted to. The spirit of the forest won't let me leave until I'm well again...you took me in here on purpose, didn't you! You knew I'd be trapped!"   
  
"I knew you'd be dead, if I didn't!"  
  
"Well, I guess there's no choice, then. Goodbye for now, Link. It could take weeks for me to get out of here with how much magic I was exposed to...stay out of trouble...don't die..." Navi looked tearful. Link patted her.  
  
"C'mon, it's alright. I'll sure miss your help, but I won't die. I'll come visit you, you'll see."  
  
"Hey, Link!" Link turned to see Saria running up to him.   
  
"Hi, Saria. I'd love to stay, but I really must be going...."  
  
"I'm coming, too!" Saria said, grinning.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Hello, I'm a sage! I have to go to the castle along with the rest of the sages to help you fight Ganondorf, remember?"  
  
"Uh...oh, of course! Heh heh..."  
  
"You airhead." Navi muttered quietly. "I don't know how you managed to survive without me so long..."  
  
"See ya, Navi. Don't worry about me, okay? Go meet some boy fairies!" Link yelled back as he left the forest with Saria. The two of them mounted Epona and rode back to the castle. Miraculously they did not meet any monsters on the way, but Link saw Zelda waiting for them when they arrived. He and Saria dismounted, and Saria started toward the castle.   
  
"I have to go give some forest weapons and magic to the King," She explained, and dissappeared through the drawbridge. Link faced Zelda. He hadn't thought about it until now, but she had good reason to be very, very mad at him. Instead, she looked emotionless.  
  
"Well...hm...I don't know what to say," Link began lamely. "I'm a big fat jerk, and I'm really really sorry and I'll listen to your advice next time?" He tried his best to look sincere, with a cute puppy smile. "But you know, Ganondorf _did_ have Malon. If I didn't go to the Fortress, who knows what he would have done to her?" Zelda stared at him a few moments, saying nothing. She sighed.  
  
"I'm angry at you and yet not. You disregarded my prophetic dream. You worried me sick for two whole days, making me think it had come true, that you could be dead. Yet, it's true that you did have to save Malon and Epona," She said, looking at the horse. She was extremely glad to see Epona alive, but mentioning that would change the subject. "But tell me this...after you had saved them both, why didn't you leave? Why did you stay and invite death? Life isn't a game, Link!" He looked at the ground.  
  
"I know...I'm sorry I worried you, Zelda. I was just so mad at Ganondorf I couln't stop myself..." Link heard a whooshing sound and saw a figure flip over the castle wall and land right in front of him. He caught a glimps of Cyphas's face before she punched him square in the jaw, sending him to the ground.  
  
"Link, you unbelievably stupid, mornic, retarded, reckless, ignorant FOOL! That was for worrying m...uh, _Zelda_ sick!" Cyphas screamed. "We thought you died or somthing!"  
  
"Cyphas! That was not neccessary!" Zelda said.  
  
"No, I deserved that." Link said, getting to his feet. "But now that I've been properly punished, can we get down to buisiness? You won't believe what I saw at Ganondorf's Fortress."  
  
"There has been some interesting developments while you were gone too, Link." Zelda said. "For starters, your brother is the new Sage of Light."

Time was running out, and Hyrule had an enourmous military to prepare for battle. The day after Link returned, the Zoras and Gorons arrived, along with a few Hylians that lived in remote areas like the carpenters and the lake scientist. That meant that every Hylian in Hyrule was now in the castle, and combined with the zoras and gorons it was very crowded. Despite this the soldiers still found room to train; some in the huge courtyard, some in Hyrule Field, and some in Royal Field. The sea griffons also appeared, joining the calwots, dragons and mountain griffons in the dragon's Flying Fortress. The huge thing blotted out all sun over the castle, and the skies beyond were filled with flying creatures training and readying themselves. The King of Hyrule, the leader of the entire thing, was holding a council in his throne room; and the room was packed. Link was there with Cyphas and Taig, the seven sages were there, and representatives from both griffons races were there because the actual leaders were too big to fit. Saroe and Coflix were also in attendance, so that leaders or reps from all races were included. There were also some advisors with the leaders, so altogether there was over a score of people there.  
  
"Admirable and wonderful allies of Hyrule, I'm glad you've come. Before we start, I want to say that the races who didn't come, which are the Kokiris, Swamp Faries, and Sea Dragons, have contributed as well. They have sent magic and items which will be discussed later. Now then, since there are so many races and so many forces to deal with, you must all now consider yourselves to be my advisors and head generals, and you will in turn command the generals in your own armies. This is how I will communicate with the whole military. I have studied military strategy extensively but am not perfect, so if you see flaws in my plans during battle, do not hesitate to make suggestions. Hesitating may cost lives. Is this understood?" Eveyone nodded. "One thing I want to make very clear is this: No one, and I mean _no _one, is to go looking for King Ganondorf. Concentrate on the forces he sends against you. If he comes close, I want you to either back off or defeat his forces so badly that he must retreat. I do not know what war strategies he will use, so it is imperitive that no one disobey this and face him personally.  
  
"With our forces so large and skilled, I have doubts that Ganondorf will defeat us, even after the disturbing monsters Link reported. I intend to beat his armies first, then we will invade the Gerudo Fortress and be able to gang up on Ganondorf. That is the only way to beat him-"  
  
"Hold on, hold on! You're forgetting the Hero of Time here," Chain said, and all the leaders looked at him dissapprovingly for interrupting the King. "What about the powers of the sages and Link combined, eh? Why don't they go attack the Master of Evil right away and be done with it?" The King frowned. "Wouldn't that save a lot of bloodshed?"  
  
"Chain, let the strategical movements be decided by the strategical thinkers. Such an attempt would be foolhardy, for Ganondorf will surely be well protected. We must wittle away at his defense first. Besides, I'm not saying Link isn't capable of defeating the King of Evil, but he did lose last time..." _Oh great, make it known to the world, Daphnes_! Link thought irritably, truning red as everyone looked at him.  
  
"I...don't worry guys, I can beat him...I think..." Link said. Zelda, standing next to him, put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Let us not forget the destiny of Link or let one battle cloud our view of him. Just get on with the strategy, Father!" The King did. He elaborately and clearly explained what defensive and offensive groups he would establish among the ranks, and to what use the spells of foreign allies would be put, etc. He explained many things and the meeting lasted hours, and when it was over everyone was relieved. The sages and Link, along with Cyphas and Taig, went to the coutyard to get some fresh air.  
  
"Man, how rude!" Taig said, bursting out with the exclamation he had been holding in the whole time. "I can't believe he told everyone you lost! Rumors will spread, and soon everyone might lose faith in Link's ability or soemthing. Is he trying to sabotage his image? Or was he just mad that most people in the room were surprised he was leading instead of Link?"   
  
"T-they were?" Link asked. "But I'm not a leader!" He blurted out. "And I don't know the first thing about war strategy!"  
  
"Yes, but regardless of that, you are the reason why Hyrule has so many allies. You helped them out, and they thought that you might be the person to lead. Even if you didn't lead, most of them had great faith in you until King Hyrule said that!"  
  
"But what he said is true," Link said sourly.  
  
"That doesn't matter! Don't you even think about it, Link!" Saria said emphatically. "We still believe in you." The rest of the sages nodded.  
  
"That's right! I KNOW you wont lose next time, Brother!" Darunia boomed, and before Link could run for his life the huge goron jumped forward to give him a nice, bone-crushing 'Goron !" Link said, gasping for air and trying to smile at the same time.  
  
"I think that's enough goron affection for now," Impa said nervously, seeing Link's face get a purplish tint.   
  
"Oh, alright." Darinia said, letting Link go. The Hylain staggered backward into Impa.  
  
"Thanks, I needed that," He whispered to her. She merely smiled.  
  
"Link!!" Link heard a high-pitched yell behind him and was yet again embraced tightly, but this hug didn't squeeze the life out of him, at least. It was Malon. "The meeting finally got out. I'm so glad to hear you made it back safely. You worried the heck outta me!"   
  
"Sorry about that," Link said.  
  
"By the way, I was surprised to see Epona shortly after you got back. She looked like she wanted to pick a fight with Dark Sky because you rode him, but then they started getting friendly with eachothter. Go figure!" she said, still hanging on Link.  
  
"That's interesting," Link managed to say before Ruto and Saria (jealous that they didn't get hugs, apparently) joined the hug and made all four of them fall to the ground. "Ack! I like you guys too, but...heeeelp!" While Zelda, Chain, Cyphas and some others laughed their heads off, Taig walked over and picked the girls off Link one by one. "Thanks Taig," Link said, getting up and brushing himself off. "I can't tell you how great it is to see you all, but I think Ganondorf's forces could attack any time. I suggest we train or something."  
  
"Yes, that's a good idea." Zelda spoke up. All turned to her. "I have seen his forces, and they're not pushovers."  
  
"That's right," Link said. "I'm going to train in Hyrule Field with Epona. Anyone who wants to train with me is invited." Everyone who wasn't the leader of a race followed Link, and even though they didn't all train with him, they trained in the same area. The whole day passed that way; all the races training hard in their respective areas and preparing the castle for war. By the end of the day, everything was in order. The supplies were in their proper places, the weapons were easily reachable, and the races were divided into different offensive and defensive groups. Everyone knew who they were taking orders from, and what to do in case no orders were given. The calwots, under the direction of their leaders and with help from Sahoriel and Cirokaal, went around casting a spell on everyone. This advanced spell would protect the one it's casted on if they recieved a deadly wound. If their head was cut off or something they would still die, but if they were simply shot with an arrow in the lung or something they would fall to the ground and appear dead, but actually be alive. That way when the battle was over and the forces of Hyrule gathered up their 'dead', some of them would still survive.   
  
The sun set slowly, first coming into view as it descended below the Flying Fortress cloud, then dissapearing again behind approaching clouds and the horizon. The huge military retired to their beds, stifling the anticipation of waiting for a battle with thoughts of peace and hope. Link and Zelda walked side-by-side toward the castle, over the soft green grass. It was pleasantly cool, a soft breeze caressing the two who were out to feel it. Everyone else had gone to sleep an hour ago, but after dinner Link had thought he needed more training, and Zelda had agreed to help him. As they went inside and toward their rooms, he smiled over at her.  
  
"Thanks a bunch, Zelda. Even though I think there's something wrong with my light summoning abilities, you helped me improve my technique and aim." Zelda smiled back.  
  
"Anytime, Link. But no matter how much stronger you feel you're getting, you aren't going to go straight for Ganondorf, are you? I know you're won't going to listen to what my father says and maybe you won't listen to me either, but do this for Hyrule, okay? I know a fight with him is irresistable for you, and I'm not saying you can't beat him..."  
  
"Yeah, yeah I know. Stay away. But if he comes for me, I'm not running."  
  
"No, I can't ask that of you. But you won't go looking for him, right? Promise?" They were now at their rooms and stopped walking. Link turned to face her. He didn't want to promise that, but he owed it to her. After all, the last two times he didn't heed her warnings he had ended up in near-death siduations. It was the wise thing to listen to her, and besides, she was his friend. It was time to stop neglecting that fact.  
  
"I promise, Zelda. I will not go looking for Ganondorf unless he kidnaps somebody. And if I go looking for him then, I'll be extra, extra careful." Zelda sighed in relief and smiled.  
  
"_Thank_ you, Link. You have no idea how much stress that just got rid of!" He laughed, shaking his head.  
  
"You always did get worried and stressed over everything. Goodnight, Princess." He said, taking her hand and kissing it in a formal gesture. "Thanks again."  
  
"Goodnight, Link. Rest well." She said, gazing into his blue eyes for a few seconds before going to her room.

_ Oh no, not again. It's another one of those prophetic dreams... it has the same cold, dreadful feel to it. And I'm with Link once again. I say something, and for a change he hears me, turning and grinning. He's up to something. The place we're in is terribly cold and dismal. The walls around us feel like stone, but are flawlessly smooth and black, with little green wisps of light here and there to see by. Link is moving forward down the corridor, but then takes a few turns. He's being very quiet, sneaking around. Soon I hear something ahead. We walk a few moments, and a large cage comes into view. The cage holds many small birds, each of them whitish-grey. There's a loud screeching, and I see three black falcons fly out of nowhere, attacking the cage with their talons and beaks, being very vicious. They can't get in, but after a few moments the little birds inside, who at first had been very brave, now start to fear. The cage door slowly starts to swing open. It will soon be open enough for the falcons to get in, to kill the white birds. Link rushes forward, yelling and shooing the falcons away. They leave and he opens the door all the way. The little whitish-grey birds fly out as quick as they can, escaping before the falcons can return.   
  
The scene changes. We are in a different room with the same kind of walls, but there is a large exit in front of us. It opens up to the outside, and there is a storming sky outside. I put a hand on Link's shoulder but he doesn't react. What's up with that? He can't feel me now? He's sweating, staring at something. He almost seems...no, that can't be. Link, what is it? I ask. Predictably, he can't hear me. A figure takes form in front of us, a black outline of a man. The face changes into Llance's face, and he's scowling. In his hand is one of those little birds, except this one has a green tint to it's light body and a yellow tint to it's head. He's not hurting it... He suddenly smiles.  
  
"Thank you, Link. Thank you." he says, surprising me. But then his face shifts into Ganondorf's.   
  
"Suffer, Link. Suffer." He says, then a black falcon comes swooping toward him. Link jumps forward, but isn't fast enough. Ganondorf throws the little bird to the falcon, which swallows the poor thing whole.  
  
"NOOOO! I'll never forgive you, Ganondorf!!" Link screams, then Ganondorf dissapears. Everything dissapears but Link. He sinks to his knees, and for some reason his wrists are bleeding. He draws a knife out of his boot. What's he going to do with that?! He holds it over his heart. NO! I scream...He falls forward; I see nothing but light.  
  
_ Lightening. That was the first thing Zelda heard the next day, and she rose even though it looked as if it was still night time. She looked out her window and could see that it was day, but thick black clouds covered the entire sky, almost indistinguishable from the cloud that was the Flying Fortress. _It could be today_, she thought, meaning of course Ganondorf's attack. His forces would be ready by now. It was one of those days during which everyone would be on edge. Zelda did not put on her princess clothes or Sheikah clothes today, because all of Ganondorf's monsters would know what she looked like. Instead, she put on some light armor and a red cape. Some high-ranking Hyrule Army officers wore capes and the King's bodyguards did too, so the cape wouldn't make her stick out too much. Even though her magic and the fact that she was a girl might give her away to intelligent creatures, at least the more stupid ones wouldn't know her. She walked out the door, and to her surprise she saw Link and Chain right outside.  
  
"Oh, we were just about to wake you," Link said, shrugging. "Nice armor. I didn't know you had any." Both he and his brother were wearing thier normal clothes.  
  
"Link, you can't wear that." Zelda said.  
  
"What? How come?" Link asked.  
  
"All the monsters will recognize you! In those clothes, they could pick you out of a group easily and all attack you."  
  
"Well, I'm not going to wear my Royal Guard armor if that's what you're thinking. Armor slows me down, and it's itchy."  
  
"No, I've got an outfit for you," Zelda said, grinning.   
  
"Oh no...you're not getting your hands on my clothes!" Link said, ducking behind Chain.

"There. You see, it fits perfectly. Nobody's going to know who you are unless they're intelligent enough to recognize your sword." Zelda said approvingly, looking Link over.  
  
"Aw, Zelda! I look stupid! Do you really expect me to go outside in this?" Zelda had put him in a sleeveless black shirt with net-like fiber. _At least it's stretchy and not thick, so it won't be hot or slow me down_, Link thought. But he still didn't like it. He had some new black fingerless gloves, and Zelda wouldn't let him wear his hat. The pants were black and neither tight nor too baggy, and on the thigh of the right leg there was a strap to put his dagger sheath on. A belt was attatched to the pants but it was too loose, so he had to wear a second one. He wore the black boots that Cyphas had given him, with blades inside the treads. The boots came up to about four inches under his knee, and the pants were tucked into them. "Besides, with all this black I'll be really hot!"  
  
"Don't worry, it's cold outside right now. You won't be hot, at least not temparature-wise..." Zelda trailed off.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Link growled, grimacing as he looked at his outfit.  
  
"Never mind. One more thing, we've got to cut your hair or it'll get in your way."  
  
"No we don't. Give me my hat."  
  
"No! Everybody knows your hat. I'll cut it with scissors, don't worry. Scissors don't hurt like a sword does." Link sighed irritably.  
  
"I'm only letting you do this because you're the Princess, you know. Fine you can cut my hair, but that's all! No more ugly clothes, and don't cut it too short!" Zelda laughed.

-hello there. sorry I couldn't end on a more interesting note -shrugs- but I'll update quick enough if I get reviews. Thx so much for reading!! if you review plz leave your author name so maybe I can email you or at least read your stuff. If you want pick from my stories email me and I'll tell you how to get to them on Thanks again!! -Talonclawfange


	2. The Shield of Life 3,4

thank you sooo much for all the reviews . I really appreciate it! I hope ya like this new chapter, cuz it's dedicated to all my nice readers

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**Section 3  
  
Ganondorf's Generals**  
  
"Hahahahahahaaaa!" Cyphas immediately burt into a wild fit of laughter when Link came into view. She, the sages, Taig and Chain had been waiting for Link and Zelda in the courtyard, but they hadn't expected them to be in new clothes. Chain and Taig thought the new clothes were pretty cool. The sages didn't mind it either. Cyphas thought it was alright and wasn't laughing at the clothes. She was laughing at the humiliated, sour look on Link's face.   
  
"Oh be quiet, Cyphas!" Link said irritbaly, folding his arms and blushing.   
  
"You...should...see...yourself!" Cyphas gasped, rolling on the ground.  
  
"It's not that funny!" Link growled angrilly, but some sages and Chain were trying to stifle thier own laughter now. "I'm going to go change," Link said, turning around.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" Zelda said grabbing his shoulder. "You look fine. Cyphas is laughing at you, not your clothes. By the way, your hair looks fine too." His hair was now shoulder length (it used to reach down to the middle of his back), and tied back in a short ponytail.  
  
"Whatever." Link mumbled, glaring at Cyphas as she got up. Everyone in the castle was awake by this time, and was training. It was silent, half-hearted training, though. Everyone was feeling too anxious and uneasy to train their best; because rumor had gotten around that Ganondorf could attack any time. The skies were completely overcast, and a bit of thunder rumbled now and then, but there was no rain nor the feel of rain in the air. There was only an ominous feeling of foreboding, carried in the cold wind. Then Link heard screaming. The scouts were souding the alarm. Link immediately dashed to the battlements, his brother, Zelda, Taig and Cyphas following. Darunia and Ruto had to go back to their races, and Impa and Saria joined them for extra support. Naburoo simply ran around, making sure everyone was getting to their places. As Link reached the top of the stone stairs he ran over to the wall and looked over it. At the very back of Hyrule field smoke was rising. "Ganondorf! He's burning Hyrule Field!" Link shouted angrilly.  
  
"He's probably going to burn Kakariko, Castletown, and Lon Lon Ranch, too!" Zelda said. "Link, what if he attacks the forest?!"  
  
"Don't worry. The forest has always been a safe haven for the Kokiris. Even the magic of the Deku Tree sprout should be sufficient to keep him out. I'm a bit worried now that you mention it, though. He has gotten much stronger somehow..."  
  
"Well by the looks of it, Ganondorf won't get here for another hour or so. What should we do?" Chain asked.  
  
"Now that nobody is on Hyrule Field, why don't you make traps, Zelda? You know, with your magic." Link suggested. Zelda thought it was a good idea. She hadn't studied much trap magic, but had a few spells, that when tripped over, would set the victim on fire or encase them in ice. She could also levetate things and move land, so she set to work making some wide pits with wodden spikes in the bottom. While she was doing that, all the soldiers waited anxiously for battle. The first fifty minutes passed like seconds, but when Ganondorf's army began to draw near, time seemed to slow with the piercing anticipation. The strange thing was, nobody could see the army clearly. The smoke was in front and around the army, effectively shrouding it. Finally, when the army was about a thousand feet from the castle, the smoke thinned and the army came into view. Link was very surprised to see only the same old monsters Ganondorf had controlled before. All kinds of creatures whos name ended in -lfos, tektites, giant disembodied hands, re-deads, poes, lava-squirting slugs, keese, moblins, etc....none of the shadowy-looking monsters Link had seen when he was carried over Gerudo's Fortress by the calwots. Link heard some commotion behind him and turned to see that the King had arrived.  
  
"Archers, long range spellcasters, prepare to fire!" He bellowed. Link looked around the castle to see who was where. The archers and long-range spellcasters (the archers were Hylians, and the spell casters were mostly sea griffons with a few calwots and small drgaons) were packed tightly onto the battlements. The ground forces (Hylians, zoras, and gorons. About a hundred of the Hyrule army solders were on horses) were arranged along the outer side of the castle, beyond the moat but about sixty yards behind Zelda's spiked ditch. Air forces (dragons, calwots, mountain griffons) were hovering in formation above the castle, waiting for the order to attack. He couldn't see the citizens, but knew they must be down in Hyrule Castle's cool, safe dungeons. Ganondorf's forces were more or less disorganized. They were not put into regiments or troops. Link couldn't even see Ganondorf himself until a middle-sized black demondragon came gliding out of the thick smoke rising behind the army. Ganondorf was seated on it's spiney back. To everyone's horror, Ganondorf had ten more demondragons following him, most of them larger than a house. Five of those dragons were being ridden by creatures Link didn't recognize and couldn't see very well. Ganondorf's dragon stopped when it got in front of the army and turned around, hovering before the mass of monsters.  
  
"Say, what ever happened to Feelock?" Taig asked suddenly. "Couldn't he hit Ganon with lightening or something?"  
  
"Actually, when I talked with Saroe she said he never made it back to Catalin." Zelda said.  
  
"What?" Link asked in disbelief. "He should have been there weeks ago!"  
  
"She said he never came back, and Tarisla left as well. She thinks the two liked eachother and Tarisla went to look for him." The Princess said.  
  
"Very strange," Link muttered to himself. He remembered the tiger-like mean femal calwot named Tarisla, but hadn't known she liked Feelock. Then Link tunred his attention back to Ganondorf.  
  
"Today is the day Hyrule dies! Do not be intimidated by the country's new allies, for we have new allies as well!" Ganondorf screamed to his monsters, which had stopped roaring and walking to listen. Those intelligent enough to understand him looked up expectantly. The rest fed off of the tone of hatred in his voice. "Kill! Destroy! Spill blood! And otherwise _annihilate_ these pathetic, weak, creatures of light! ATTACK!"  
  
"FIRE!" Daphnes Hyrule shouted as Ganondorf's forces charged into range. A sky-covering volley of arrows soared over the ground forces, over the spikey pit, straight into the midst of the monsters. Various spells followed, and between them they killed most of the monsters in front. "FIRE AT WILL!" King daphnes ordered, and a continuous rain of projectiles hindered the progress of the monsters. Eventually some of them made it to the spikey pit and tried to leap over it. Some didn't make it, and those that did were quickly cut down by the ground forces. Things were going well, until the shiftbats showed up.   
  
"Daphnes, look! Ganondorf has control of shiftbats now, too!" Chain said pointing at their dim forms as they materialized out of the smoke. About three hundred shiftbats, ranging from dog-size to wagon-size, were following a demondragon straight toward the castle. Most of the bats were carrying monsters, obviously intending to drop them behind the defensive lines.  
  
"Archers, shoot down those bats! Long range spellcasters keep firing at Ganondorf's ground forces! Calwot air force, destroy any bats the archers miss!" The King yelled, and the messenger calwot (Leal) flew up to the calwots to tell them thier orders. As they came into range, archers fired at the shiftbats and demondragon. To thier alarm, their arrows bounced off of invisible shields casted on the bats. Link fired an ice arrow at the dragon, and because it was a magic arrow it went through the shield and hit the tip of the dragon's wing, slowing it down a bit. "Archers, concentrate on the ground forces! Dragons, kill the monsters that the bats are dropping before they reach the citizens!" King Hyrule yelled, and his orders were quickly followed. Link looked over at the demondragon he had slowed down and saw that there was a creature composed entirely of bones on it's back. _Must be that undead thing I saw in Ganondorf's dungeon! I thought I destroyed it but I forgot that it was just an illusion_...The thing (actually Raptyrant) was casting weak black magic spells at the calwots trying to kill the bats. Since there were far more calwots than bats and the calwots could easily break their shields, the bats were dying quickly. Despite this, most of them had dropped their monsters and the dragons were quite busy getting rid of those. At the same time, the archers were running out of arrows, and more and more monsters were making it across Zelda's spikey ditch. Link knew that Hyrule's army had over 3,000 warriors, each one easily worth many of Ganondorf's monsters, but despite this the threat of superior numbers was a serious one. Ganondorf had thousands of monsters. The ground and air forces would have to work constantly to prevent being overrun. Link decided to go help the ground forces, who were having to deal with more monsters every second. He turned to his friends.  
  
"Guys, I'm going down there. You coming?" Taig, Chain and Cyphas nodded.  
  
"I'm going to stay up here and cast spells until I have less mana. Then I'll join you, okay?" Zelda said. Link nodded.  
  
"Don't go looking for Ganondorf, now, Link." Daphnes said. Link nodded again and vaulted over the castle wall. By now Ganondorf's ground forces had begun firing back at the archers, and a black arrow whizzed by his head. Link landed heavily on the ground and called for Epona. His faithful horse had been nearby and galloped over to him. Link jumped up on her as Taig, Chain and Cyphas came down the wall. They looked at eachother grimly and moved up to the front of the forces. Link saw that the pit was now almost completely filled up with monster corpses, and soon Ganondorf's creatures would be able to cross it with ease. Then Daphnes gave the command to charge, and all of the Hylians, gorons and zoras rushed forward as one, slamming into Ganon's army. The king sent the mountain griffons and half the calwots down to help them, and chaos reigned as Link left hearing distance of the King's voice. It was bloody melee now, and Link destroyed monsters left and right as Epona charged through them heedlessly. "You've probably killed more living things than me..." Link irritably brushed Ganon's words out of his head. A battlefield was no place to consider giving mercy to monsters. Most dumb monsters thought Link was just another human wearing black on a horse, but stalfoses recognized him and began to attack fiercely. From horeseback Link had an advantage, and recieved almost no wounds from the onslaught of dead men.   
  
"Link, you rock!" Chain shouted, and Link turned to see his little brother behind him, killing wolfoses. Chian looked a bit like Link (even though his tunic was so light green it was almost white), so monsters attacked him fiercely as well. But now that he was the new Sage of Light, he commanded powerful magic and could take care of them pretty easily. He hadn't quite gotten the hang of all his new powers yet, but had enough experience to destroy some simple wolfoses.   
  
"Thanks, but you'de better go back to where there's lots of soldiers," Link said loudly, noticing that he was pretty far into Ganondorf's army where only a few troops of men had gotten so far. "I'm going to go help that troop over there that the monsters are trying to cut off." Link yelled over the roars and screaming of battle. Chain looked reluctant, but knew that the middle of a war was no place to disagree with the greatest warrior in Hyrule. He said okay and ran back to the main force, where Taig and Cyphas were.   
  
Cyphas was with an elite regiment of the Royal Guard, who were defending the right side of the castle in case of a flank attack. Suddenly a demondragon with a strangely glowing rider flew over, and as if the monsters had recieved instructions from this, they initiated a massive flank attack.   
  
"Form a line, quickly!" Raykel shouted, and immediately his warriors did that. The monsters ran straight into the line, many throwing themselves heedlessly onto the spears and pikes of the Royal Guards. What was that bluish-glowy thing on the back of that demondragon? Cyphas wondered, slicing a lizalfos's head off as it jumped at her. The line of soldiers held up for a few moments, but there were so many monsters that inevitably some broke through. The line was sepparated, and the soldiers turned to battle the beasts in their midst. A perticularly large (and smelly) group of twelve moblins broke through right where Cyphas was, and she got to work killing them, her lightening-quick, thin, curved blades destroying half before they knew what hit them. The other six surrounded her, and she was almost fast enough to kill them all; but as she killed five the last one grabbed her from behind. The massive, all-muscle creature began to squeeze her in a very uncomfotable bear hug.   
  
"Let...me...go...you nasty pig!" Cyphas yelled, elbowing it right in it's piggy nose. It squealed ingidgantly and grabbed both of her arms, pinning them to her sides as it continued to try to crush her. She was very tough but the monster holding her was pure muscle, and it's tight hug squeezed the air out of her quickly, and forced her to drop her double curved swords. Gasping, she managed to move her arm enough to cut the moblin's leg with the sharp side of her arm fin. Growling in pain, the monster put it's right hand over the cut. Cyphas almost squirmed out of the creature's left arm, until the right came back up and locked around her neck. Cyphas struggled furiously, but couldn't get loose. A stalfos that had just knocked out a nearby Royal Guardsman saw her plight and came over, grinning. _Shoot! This dumb beast can't be the end of me, this is pathetic!!_ Cyphas thought, her head swimming as she kicked violently at the beast keeping her in a stranglehold. It did nothing, and the stalfos made a cut across her whitish-teal stomach with it's jagged, dark blade. It gave her another slash, deeper than the last, and just when she thought it was all over, someone cut the stalfos in half from behind. As it's pieces fell to the ground Cyphas dimly saw Raykel shove his sword into the side of the Cyphas-harrasing moblin's stomach. The monster screamed as it died, and Cyphas fell to the ground. The Hylian-zora held her sore neck and coughed twice, then looked up at Raykel. He smiled charmingly, but Cyphas was angry. She leapt to her feet.  
  
"You stupid Hylian! I had everything under control!" She growled in fury, grabbing the front of his shirt. The startled captain didn't resist and she shoved him up against the castle gate. Most of the flank attack had been destroyed, and some nearby surviving Royal Guards stopped to watch, wondering if they should attack the woman yelling at thier leader..."What's the matter with you?! I don't need help from dirty Hylians!" Cyphas raged, glaring into Raykel's dark blue eyes.  
  
"Well, if you're going to kill me then get it over with," Raykel challenged calmly. "We have a war to fight!"  
  
"I'm not killing you!" Cyphas growled. The surrounding soldiers gasped in shock as the swampwoman pressed her lips to Raykel's, forcefully and quickly kissing him. "I'm thanking you!" Raykel stared in amazement, mouth open. "Now don't get in my way again!"

"Hiyaaah!" Link yelled, cutting off the paw that the demondragon before him had been trying to scratch him with. It screamed in pain and jumped into the air, flying away.  
  
"Nice one, Link!" Corb said, slashing at a monster that had tried to sneak up on him.   
  
"I couldn't have done it without you distracting him," Link said, pulling Epona around and pointing his blade at the surrounding monsters, daring them to charge. He had been helping Corb's group for the last few minutes, and now that he'd thinned out the monsters a bit and gotten rid of the dragon, he decided to find another group to help. He looked around and spotted a group led by Garret getting attacked fiercely. "Gotta go. Good luck, Corb!" Link yelled, urging Epona toward the besieged troop of soldiers. He kicked her into a faster gallop and screamed in anger as he saw a stalfos deal a lethal blow to a soldier. The beast then attacked Garret, wounding his leg. Garret killed the beast but a moblin took it's place, forcing Garret to the ground and attempting to stab his throat with it's long spear. Epona reached the fray, and Link swiftly killed the pig-like beast trying to spear Garret.   
  
"Thanks, Link." The lieutanant said, getting to his feet. Link helped Garret's bunch for a few minutes, evening the odds and helping to clear a path back to the main army. As soon as they had gotten there, Link wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked around for another group to help. He briefly noted that Epona was breathing heavily from dashing all over the place and kicking enemy soldiers constantly. He decided he'd get off her soon, or she'd become too exhausted to fight. Link saw a troop in the distance that was being plagued by monsters, but some calwots were already flying that way to help out. As Link looked around, and demondragon with a green-glowing rider flew over, and all the surrounding monsters charged for Link. Apparently the rider recognized me and gave them some sort of telepathic order to attack, Link thought. He cut at the beasts as quickly as he could, and Epona kicked or bit any monster she could, but they were surrounded on all sides, and the monsters closed in. They were mostly monsters from the Shadow Temple; re-deads and giant disembodied hands. The hands started hanging onto Epona's legs and head, making it very difficult to fight. The large, black, dead-skinned hands crawled up her sides and began jumping onto Link. A small one latched itself onto his neck while a re-dead jumped on his back and began knawing at his head. Link and his horse were swamped in moments, and they went down in a violently writhing pile. Link tried to cut the beasts off him, but a re-dead bit his arm very hard, making him drop the Master Sword.  
  
"Hold on, Link!" Link heard a familiar voice, muffled by the pile of monster bodies on his head. The beasts directly on top of him were cut into shreds, thier dark blood covering the Hylian, and finally they were swept aside. Link stared up at Taig, viciously hacking at the monsters to get them off him and Epona. Link got himself off his horse and found his sword, then helped Taig destroy the remaining ones on Epona. The horse staggered to her feet, panting. Link petted her and said something in her ear, and the horse went trotting off, kicking any monsters that got in her way.  
  
"Thanks a million, Taig. That was close!" Link said, wiping some dark monster blood off his face.   
  
"Any time, man! What would you d-" Link cut Taig off  
  
"I know, I know; what would I do without the 'Great Taig'?" Link said, laughing.  
  
"You'd be toast, that's what!" Taig said puffing out his chest proudly. A shrieking re-dead jumped on his back. "Get offa me, you foul thing!" Taig growled, whacking it off with his sharp tail spike.   
  
"Taig, watch out!" Link yelled, jumping in front of Taig and deflecting a dark ball of energy that had almost hit him and would have certainly injured him. Ganondorf had shot it of course, and recognized Link despite his new clothes.   
  
"You are still alive...impossible! Curses!" The Gerudo King yelled. Impossible? If he really thought I was dead, why didn't he take my triforce? This is really fishy...Ganondorf turned to Taig. "Great indeed, puny little Prince!" He yelled from atop his demondragon, which was hovering a hundred feet above the two. "What's so great about a royal beast that needs a tight-wearing little boy for protection?" Taig roared in anger.  
  
"You'd better get out of here, Ganondorf!" He yelled. "If you pick on me, my mom will come wether King Daphnes sends her or not!"  
  
"Hhahahahaha! Your mother? I could defeat Sahoriel easily!" The dark King said haughtily.  
  
"You're bluffing!" Link yelled. "She's way more powerful than you!"  
  
"That's the point, you fool! A creature with so much extra power has excess magic. It would be very easy to use her power against her in my own manipulative ways. The more power, the better!" Taig growled and glared at Ganondorf, but Link could see that the King's words had actually frightened him a bit. Link took out his bow and aimed a light arrow at Ganondorf. He let it fly, but Ganondorf's dragon dodged. "I don't have time for this. I plan to destroy you later, Hero of Fools! Meanwhile, why not see what you think of my generals?!" Ganondorf pointed to a far-off area and guided his dragon away. Link looked where he pointed and saw some magic commotion going on, and heard men screaming.   
  
"I'm going to go help the rest of the dragons, Link." Taig said, looking back over next to the castle and seeing some dragons that needed help against a large demondragon.  
  
"See you later, Taig!" Link said, running in the direction that Ganondorf had pointed. It was at the far right of the battlefield, about four hundred feet away from Zelda's trench. When Link got to the area, he saw what was causing the magical commotion. The first thing he noticed were two dead demondragons. The second thing he noticed was two normal dragons and six calwots, completely encased in ice. They must have been the ones who killed the demondragons, Link thought. The third thing he noticed as he stepped around the demondragon corpses were two magical, glowing creatures; one red and one blue. Soldiers were charging at them, and one by one they were wounded with fire and then instantly frozen in ice. "Stop!" Link yelled at the two creatures and soldiers. The men who were about to charge stopped, looking at Link. "You guys get out of here!" Link yelled. They tried to obey, but the blue magical creature froze them before they could escape. "Now you've done it," Link growled, turning toward the creatures, who were two of Ganondorf's generals. "You're mine!"  
  
**Section 4  
  
Fire, Ice, and Craziness**  
  
"We shall see about that, little Hylian." The blue creature said. It was a shiny-furred white wolf standing on two legs, and it had three tails with black tips, just like a keaton. The fur on the back of its neck was long and tied with little bands, and it had some black tribal tatoos on its arms. It was as tall as a Hylian, and its eyes glowed a deep and entrancing blue. A bluish aura surrounded it, which would explain how it looked like it was glowing when it was riding on the demondragon. When it spoke its mouth only opened slightly, not moving to form the words. It was very strange.  
  
"What are you? A snow wolfo-keaton thingie?" Link asked.  
  
"He used to be an albino keaton," The red monster explained. "But master Ganondorf has made us both into much more." This monster looked like a giant cat walking on two legs. It had a fiery reddish-orange coat of long, spikey fur, and was wearing a black spike collar. It also wore spiked bracelets on its wrists and ankles. It had many belts on its wait for no apparent reason (neither of the creatures was wearing any clothes), some belts had spikes and some had metal studs or nothing. The monster was wearing a metal mask over its face, but through the eyeholes Link could see that its eyes glowed red just like the other creature's eyes glowed blue. The cat also had a reddish aura surrounding it. It spoke in the same way, opening its mouth but not moving its lips. "I was once a mere lavakatt, but through his unfathomable powers, Lord Ganondorf has can make any weak creature into a weapon of mass destruction." The cat and wolf glared at Link, glowing eyes penatrating his very skin.   
  
"Well, let's get on with it!" Link challanged. "Wait...what's that over there?!" Link inquired excitedly, pointing to something behind the beasts. As they turned around to look, Link performed Din's Fire, melting all the ice surrounding his allies. They fell to the ground, shaking from cold and weakness caused by being frozen for over five minutes.  
  
"I see nothing," The white wolf said, still not realizing that it had been a cheap diverson.  
  
"We have been decieved," The cat said. "Let us kill the human now."  
  
"Yes, let us eat the mancreature." The wolf said. They nodded at eachother and looked back at where Link had been standing. He came at them from the side, screaming a battlecry. "Foolish human!" The wolf said, growling deep in its throat and sidestepping Link's attack. He gripped Link's neck and began to show him an example of ice magic. Link could feel his lungs filling with freezing air, and his whole neck went numb from frost. He stuggled out of the wolf's grip and staggered backwards, holding his frost-covered neck and coughing. "I am merely toying with you. You will have to do much better than pathetic sword techniques if you want to live," The wolf said. Link briefly rubbed his cold neck to get some circulation back in it, then lunged at the wolf again, this time jumping much quicker and channeling some light magic into his sword. The wolf grinned wolfishly (how else could it grin?), slashing with its claws at the blade and knocking it off its course. The strike missed, and the wolf punched Link in the gut with ice magic. He backed up, holding his stomach and shivering.   
  
"Man, that is cold!" Link complained. The wolf laughed, and the firey cat stepped forward. Link was aware that he was still near his recovering allies, and sprinted in the opposite direction. The wolf and cat quickly caught up with him, but Link didn't care since he had successfully led them away from the recovering men. The cat formed a mass of flaming energy in its paws, then sent it out in two branches which snaked around behind Link and joined, forming a flaming circle around him.   
  
"Burn, mancreature." The cat said, and the firery ring began to spin and gain height. As it spun and grew it bacame hotter and hotter, until Link was sweating all over. He put on his goron tunic, and wasn't very hot until the flames began bending inward. They joined at the middle over Link, beccoming a spinning, searing dome of fire. The flames grew in intensity until Link got very hot despite his tunic. Every breath burned his lungs, and he closed his eyes tightly against the bright flames, bringing up his arm to shield his face from the heat.   
  
"Nayru's..." Link tried to cast a protective spell over himself but had to take a breath mid-sentence which burned his lungs more and made him unable to speak. Coughing, Link fell to his knees and put his arm over his mouth so he could breathe. The heat was intense. He could feel his skin burning. I have to do something before I become a Hylian cinder! Link thought urgently. His mirror shield came to mind, but would it do any good against this kind of magic? He put his sword away and yanked the shield out, holding it over his burning back. To his amazement, a heatwave explosion resulted. The heat from the spell concentrated on the sheild and was reflected back, creating a massive burst of fire that resembled a giant Din's Fire. Luckily for Link, his allies were to far away to be reached by the blast. Luckily for the cat, it was immune to fire. Unluckily for the wolf, it wasn't. It howled in pain as the blast hit it full-force, singing its fur and sending it flying. Link got up shakily, his whole body was still covered in sweat and very hot. He wiped his forehead and changed back to his black clothes (the net-like shirt allowed more ventilation so he could cool down, and Zelda wouldn't be happy if he wore anything that remotely looked like his green tunic), watching the wolf get to its feet. It bore its teeth in rage, and both it and its fiery counterpart growled threateningly. Then the wolf sent a large, fast shard of ice at Link. He could tell it was a powerful spell, which would both pierce his body and freeze him instantly. He simply defelected it with his sheild, sending it at the cat. Its red eyes widened in shock as the bolt flew at it, and it wasn't fast enough to dodge. The sharp piece of ice plunged right into its chest, and it became a statue of ice. Then the ice shattered, and in the fiery monster's place there was a cucco-sized kitten. It was reddish-orange and rather cute. Link supposed it must be a lavakatt._ So, killing the demonic monster form of these creatures will break the spell and return them to thier original selves_, Link relaized.  
  
"What have you done to my partner?" Thw wolf asked, looking confusedly at the kitten. "I will destroy you, human. Now that you cannot use my opposite element monster against me, you cannot win."  
  
"Yeah, well you can bet your fuzzy butt that I'm going to try anyways!" Link said boldly, drawing his sword. The wolf thing laughed and grinned, showing all its oversized sharp fangs. Its blue eyes glowed more intensely, and Link began to feel extremely cold. "You are not worthy of an instant freezing, mancreature. I will make you suffer..."   
  
"F-fine, l-let's go!" Link said, shivering. He didn't notice that ice had begun to creep up his boots.   
  
"Fool, I have already begun my attack." The wolf said, and a freezing, snow-filled wind began to blow from behind it. Link warm breath misted on the air as the cold intensified.   
  
"G-good grief, that's c-cold!" Link said. The air was getting so cold it burned, and Link could feel his body getting stiff. He rubbed his arms in a pathetic effort to get warm, but it got colder and colder; too cold to breathe. Link tried to move but found that his boots were secured to the ground by ice, so he became off-balance and fell to his knees. Shaking violently and coughing, Link tried to cut the ice off his boots, but the ice was too hard to break off. Link took out an arrow and made it into a fire one, putting it close to his boot. It burned for a few moments, but then went out because it was so cold. Link was getting numb, and the wolf was laughing a freakish howling laugh. Link then remembered the blades in his boots. He reached down and pushed the button on the inside of each heel, and as the blades sprung out they broke the ice. _Thank goodness for Cyphas's great worksmanship_, Link thought. _I'll have to thank her later_. Before his body froze completely, Link jumped at the ice wolf. The wolf stopped laughing and saw Link coming too late to move. Link gave the wolf a long slash across its chest, making it howl and back up. The freezing spell was now gone, but Link was still very cold. "N-now say goodbye, w-wolf!" Link said, but being as cold as he was he didn't slash at the creature fast enough. The wolf stepped inside the arc of the sword, getting so close to Link that the strike missed completely, and put a paw over his mouth. Instantly his lungs were filled with water. The wolf shoved him away and Link fell to his knees again, coughing out water. _So he has ice _and _water powers_, Link thought.  
  
"On your knees again, mancreature? You might as well bow to me and accept defeat." The wolf said mockingly, forming an ice spear and raising it.  
  
"Never!" Link yelled, jumping to his feet. There's only one way to beat this beast without powerful fire magic, Link thought. Though he had Din's Fire, it wouldn't be powerufl enough to beat a creature so frosty, and neither would a simple fire arrow. Since the creature was evil, he had to use light magic. Link felt a warm sensation of magic rushing in his veins as he channeled energy into his sword until it was glowing.   
  
"What is this power?! You...you truly are the Hero of Time!" Link cut at the beast alarmingly fast, and gave it an enormous cut that sent blood flying in a red streak. The creature howled its last, and transformed into an innocent-looking baby white keaton.  
  
"CURSES!" Link heard a loud shout from Ganondorf and looked up. Ganon was hovering over the ground on his dragon about two hundred feet to the right. He was looking over the battlefield and Link looked, too. Link could see that now Hyrule's army and Ganondorf's army were the same size (when the war had started, Ganondorf's army had been about as big as five Hyrule armies) Dead monster bodies were everywhere, and the last of Ganon's beasts were being swiftly cut down by dragon and calwot spells. There were only four demondragons left, and three of them were being chased by Sahoriel, Cirokaal, and Kazan. Ganondorf was clearly losing. "RETREAT! I WILL BE BACK, DAPHNES!" Ganondorf shouted, and his monsters began to withdraw, running back across the burnt Hyrule field. Over a third of them were killed as they ran, and the Hyrule military cheered and yelled jeering comments as they watched Ganondorf's army dissapear. Then the battlefield was consumed in an overpowering light as all the monster bodies disintigrated in flares of blue fire. Then a silence covered the field as everyone saw how many Hyrule bodies there were.   
  
The King ordered a massive clean-up, and to everyone's happiness, they found out that the spell the calwots had cast on everybody (the death-resisting one) had saved about a third of the creatures that had looked like they were dead. Overall, only about 150 Hyrule allies had been killed, thanks to the enchantments. Hundreds had been wounded, and the physicians, Zelda, and any dragons, calwots or griffons that had healing magic got busy healing everyone. Link took the baby white keaton and lavakatt to the dungeons and left them with Talon (he figured Malon would be down there at some time or another and take care of them). After Link had gotten healed, he looked around for any of his friends other than Zelda, because she was very busy. The first one he found was Taig.  
  
"Hey Link, have you seen Faraws?" The golden-winged prince asked. "I saw her on the battlefield, but she looked hurt. I wanted to look around for her here before I search...before I..."  
  
"Search the dead pile?" Link finished. "Don't worry, Taig. I think I saw her over there..." Link pointed to a castle tower he had seen a black dragon with red markings flying around, that could've been Faraws. But Taig didn't need to go look, because Faraws came into view form behind a nearby castle wall and landed in front of him.  
  
"Faraws, you're okay!" Taig said, jumping at her and hugging her. Even thought the scales on her cheeks were black and red, Link couldv'e sword they got a little redder.  
  
"**Oh my...uh, I'm glad to find you well, Price Taig**." Link snickered and made a kissing sound that made the female dragon's cheeks turn a deeper shade of scarlet.  
  
"Shut up, Link!" Taig said, glaring at him. "Before I give _you_ a hug!" Link remembered the last time the red dragon had hugged him. It had been worse than a goron hug, if that was possible. Consequently Link decided to shut up, and went to go look for Cyphas so he could thank her again for the life-saving boots. He looked all around in the courtyard, on the battlements, within the castle walls, and in the infirmary. Where the heck could she be? He wondered, stumped. The thought that she could be dead never even crossed his mind. She was too skilled to be defeated by a slew of dim-witted monsters. He decided to look outside the castle, thought he couldn't think of why she'd be there. Surely she wouldn't be in the burnt Hyrule Field, so Link looked for her in North Hyrule, in Royal Field. Chain met him on the way and they looked together.

"You know, after Cosha died I realized how much I'd miss the kid. He was like a little brother or something...My real little brother and father were killed when Ganondorf took over. Their deaths as well as Cosha's gave me an emotional scar, and I didn't know if I could be happy again..." Raykel muttered, staring at the wood beneath him.  
  
"What about friends? Link, Sohran, your men?" Cyphas asked. After the battle, she had dragged him over to her favorite tree and made him climb it so they could talk. They sat next to eachother in a dip between branches.  
  
"It's nice to have friends, but still... my only family is now my old mother. She may die soon, and I haven't even got time to visit her with the war and everything..."   
  
"But isn't she in the dungeon now? Why not visit her?"  
  
"Because you dragged me up here!"  
  
"Oh yeah..." Cyphas laughed and scratched her spikey blue head. "You'll have to see her a little later."  
  
"So then...why all the kindness now? It seemed as if you hated me before."  
  
"That's why I'm nice. I acted like a complete jerk around you, like I hated you, and still you were nice to me...didn't get mad, or say I was a freak..."  
  
"Link and Zelda are nice to you as well."  
  
"Yes...Link became my friend, introduced me to this world of light that I had long forgotten. He showed me that there are such things as nice Hylians...He's my good friend, but I'm looking for something more than a friend, to fill the void in my life."  
  
"Me too..." Raykel muttered, surprised at how vulnerable and soft he felt admitting it.  
  
"Link's only what, seventeen? Besides, he's got Zelda...I haven't kept track of my birthdays the last few years, but I believe I'm around twenty-eight."  
  
"We're ten years apart," Raykel said.   
  
"Who cares about age?" Cyphas inquired, staring into his midnight blue eyes. She brushed some dark hair out of his face. "I, for one, do not. You're a wonderful man...you do not reject me because I'm a half-breed..."  
  
"No," Raykel said quietly. He found himself, Mr. big tough Captain of the Royal Guard, to be blushing. "You're a beautiful woman..." He said, staring back into her yellow-green cattish eyes. From far away she appeared to be masculine with her muscled arms and spikey blue hair, but he found her face to be very femenine and very pretty. They leaned towards eachother...  
  
"Cyphas and Raykel, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-" Chian got whacked by Link on the head.  
  
"Shaddap, you. That's not very nice." Link said.  
  
"Well _whacking_ people isn't very nice _either_," Chain retorted.  
  
"LINK AND CHAIN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I PERSONNALY TEAR BOTH YOUR HEADS OFF!!" Cyphas roared. Chain screamed like a girl and dashed off.  
  
"Eh, s-sorry Cyphas-" Link stuttered.  
  
"GO AWAY!" She yelled, throwing a large stick at him. Link joined his brother.  
  
"Man, what's with these people?" Link asked as he and Chain got back to the castle, panting. "First Taig and Faraws, and now Cyphas and Raykel! This is war, not spring!"   
  
"I dunno, it's craziness, that's what it is!" Chain declared. "But I gotta go, bro. I told Malon I'd help her with the horses and animals since you'll be too busy."  
  
"What? I'm not too busy..."  
  
"Sir Link, there is a meeting in the King's dining room in half an hour." A soldier said, walking up to and saluting Link.  
  
"Okay, maybe I am. Tell her I said 'hi', alright?" Link said, waving to Chain.  
  
"Sure thing, bro. See you later. Tell me if ol' Daphnes says the Sage of Light needs to do anything, okay?" Link nodded, and headed to the infirmary to find Zelda.

"So, Ganondorf has turned out to have a much lesser military than we originally expected. We have defeated him this day, and will assault his Fortress the day after tomorrow, to allow our troops to rest."  
  
"Excuse me Your Majesty, but I don't think we've seen the last of Ganondorf's forces." Link said. The King turned to him. "While escaping his Fortress me and Saroe along with many other calwots saw some odd black monsters. He hasn't attacked with those yet."  
  
"Yes, King Hyrule, and there were many of them. We also saw more demondragons than he attacked with today. Ganon must be plotting another strike. Let's not forget that he had two chances to kill Link and take his triforce, but only took his little ocarina! Something strange is going on behind the black walls of his Fortress..." Saroe said seriously. Coflix nodded.  
  
"You two are certain of this? You may have seen the demondragons bunched together and it only seemed like there were more. Are you sure these 'black monsters' were not simply normal monsters shrouded in shadow? Besides, if he had extra monsters, why didn't he attack with them today?" Saroe looked slightly indignant. Why did the King question her?  
  
"We are sure, Your Majesty...I will conjure a mind's illusion for you." This was a spell that pulled up a memory in the caster's mind and displayed it in a magical projection. The Queen of Calwots concentrated on her memory, and soon a floating picture hung above the King's table. It showed the moving black mass of monsters Link and Saroe had seen. The King looked very closely, and saw what looked like a completely black wolfos.  
  
"You see that, Saroe? They are normal beasts covered in shadow by the darkness of the Fortress. Those are the monsters Ganondorf attacked with today, the ones we defeated." Everyone squinted at the picture, but the black forms were too distorted to make out. They _could_ be normal monsters...Saroe cut off the spell.  
  
"It seems their forms are too indistinct to see clearly. I cannot prove they are demons..." She said.  
  
"Demons?" Link asked. "Like in fairy tales?"  
  
"Yes. They are all black and can take many forms. They are all fierce and hungry for blood, and are much harder to beat than ordinary monsters..."  
  
"Except for the fact that they do not exist." Daphnes said curtly. He could not give much credit to something nobody was sure of if it would effect the whole kingdom. He wanted to do what he thought was best for everyone...He then discussed the goods and bads about the stategies that were used in the battle, and leaders of races made suggestions. The King then told how the dead were to be buried and honored, and the specifications of a party he was going to throw that night in celebration of Hyrule's victory. Finally, he concluded the meeting. "In any case, if Ganondorf does not attack tomorrow with his 'demons', we will have a day of rest and march for his castle at dawn. We will have a meeting tomorrow night to discuss how this will be done. Is this understood?" Everyone in the room nodded silently. "Then this meeting is ajourned." Most creatures filed out of the room, to inform thier respective races of the news or prepare for the party. Zelda, Link and Impa went to the kitchen to help cook. All of the races contributed food to the party, and there was plenty for all. Music was played and creatures danced both in the courtyard and in the sky. After eating, Link played Saria's song for the gorons until he was out of breath, then finally snuck away. He would have perhaps danced and participated, but he had a bad feeling. He found Zelda sitting by herself inside a castle wall, hiding from all the comotion.   
  
"Hey Zelda." Link said, sitting next to her. "This party...it kind of gives me the creeps...what are we celebrating for? Ganondorf will be back, I can feel it."  
  
"I think so, too. He is far to powerful to stop now. He isn't stupid, he must surely have some back-up forces. We haven't seen the last of him, just like he said. And Link, I forgot to tell you this morning, I had another phrophetic dream."  
  
"Uh-oh," Link said, listening intently.  
  
"Me and you came apon this big cage of grey-white birds. I think we were in Ganondorf's castle. Anyways, some falcons started attacking them and you scared the falcons away, and freed the birds. Then we saw Llance, and he thanked you. Llance turned into Ganondorf, and was holding another little bird. He killed it by feeding it to a falcon, and you got very angry. More angry than I think you would normally be about a little bird dying. Ganon dissapeared and you were by yourself, your wrists bleeding..." Zelda didn't have the heart to tell the next part of the dream...where Link had held a dagger over his own heart..."Then I saw light."  
  
"Well, that doesn't sound very happy," Link said quietly. "What's with always seeing light at the end?"  
  
"I don't know. Perhaps it means the dream is prophetic, but my prophetic dreams in the past haven't always ended in light. It is very strange. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with the unwise choices my father is making...if it were up to me, I'd have the military prepare for war, not dance." Zelda said. Link nodded, knowing Zelda would make a great Queen someday. The King tried to do what was right, but he was constantly blind to the truth because he chose not to believe those attempting to help him. Link knew if things fell apart and it seemed everyhing was over, he'd have to fight Ganondorf again...  
  
"I'm going to get something to drink," Zelda said, standing up. Link followed her, and they went to a magic fountain that was spouting juice in the courtyard. As they got themselves some, the zora and goron band (with the help of Saria's ocarina) played a slow song. Link spotted Chain dancing with Malon and laughed.   
  
"He was complaining about how everyone is going crazy...now look at him!" Link said, pointing them out.   
  
"Well, they could just be dancing as friends, Link. After all, they barely met eachother." Zelda said. Link nodded.  
  
"Yeah, that could be. But, wouldn't it be interesting if she finally found that 'knight in shining armor' she always wanted me to be?" Zelda nodded thoughtfully.  
  
"I know this party is stupid and we'd better go to bed soon, because Ganondorf might attack tomorrow, but...you wanna dance?" Zelda asked shyly.  
  
"As friends, of course?" Link asked, grinning.  
  
"Of course." She said, grinning back and putting her hand in his.

Link heaved a happy sigh and threw himself down on his bed. Hyrule was at war. Over a hundred men had died that day. He was tired and stressed and on the edge of a battle that would most likely kill him. How could he possibly be happy at the same time? His own emotions were confusing him. He was worried, anxious, maybe even a bit scared. He had every right to be, since it was inevitable that he would fight Ganondorf again and possibly lose. Yet, he felt a certain heavenly peace after dancing with Zelda. She was his best friend. Best _friend_. Being with her relieved his stress a bit. _Gotta put this stuff to the back of my head and go to sleep,_ He thought, ignorring the loud crash of thunder outside. He drifted to sleep to the soft sound of his brother's snoring, and had evil dreams.

-I bet ya didn't expect any fluff from anyone else but Zelda and Link, did ya?! mwahahahaha! ahem, anyways....reviews are GREATLY appreciated so if you read this please leave a review...I hope you liked it. Read next time to see if Ganon had demons or if Saroe and Link were just seeing things, heheh. Also, the meaning of Zelda's dream will be revealed. See ya next time... -Talonclawfange


	3. The Shield of Life 5,6

**Section 5  
  
Black Battle**  
  
Link awoke suddenly in the middle of the night, sitting bolt upright. He had been having a rather bloody dream, but that wasn't what had woken him. He didn't know what had woken him and he didn't feel very sleepy anymore, so he put his clothes on. In was only about twenty minutes from sunrise, so he didn't see any harm in waking early and having a little stroll to enjoy the rest of the peaceul night (even though the sky was still overcast, the thunder had stopped, so it was very quiet). Link quietly left his room and walked down the hall, until he came to its end and went outside. A pleasant breeze was blowing, and as Link walked toward the stone stairs that led to the battlements, he heard an owl hooting softly. Link got to the top and looked around, spotting half a dozen night guards along the wall. They greeted him as he walked past, and Link looked over the burnt Hyrule Field. He was sad because it had lost much of its beauty, but the Know-It-All Brothers had once said that burnt greenery grows back even nicer, so Link wasn't too depressed about it. Link looked ahead and saw that the next guard down the wall was Raykel. He hadn't recognized him at first because of a change of hair, but Link walked up and said hi.  
  
"How's it going, Raykel?" Link asked. "Nice night, huh?" Raykel nodded. He had shaved his mustache off, and his long black hair was tied back. "So you shaved, eh?" Link said, grinning.  
  
"What's wrong with that? A man can shave, can't he?" Raykel said, his cheeks turning slighly pink. Link tried to supress a laugh and failed.  
  
"Oh be quiet. Cyphas said the mustache tickled." This only made Link laugh more. "Well, we'll see how you feel when you grow a mustache, along with some maturity, and start liking girls!" Link hadn't though about that. Now that he did, he knew he might spring a mustache any time now. It would be wierd to have facial hair, and he'd probably shave it...  
  
"You know I'm just teasing, Raykel. I'm glad for you and Cyphas, really. I hope your men won't think it's wierd..."  
  
"Most of them don't know yet, and I don't know how they'll take it...I hope most of them aren't predjudice of halfbreeds."  
  
"Yeah," Link said in concurrance. The owl Link had been hearing suddenly let out a loud hoot and flew away. Link and Raykel looked at eachother, sensing danger. Then they looked out over Hyrule Field. It was a very dark night with all the clouds covering the sky, and difficult to make out anything. After a few tense moments of staring at the blackened, shadow-covered ground and seeing nothing, Link thought it was safe. Until he heard a soft twang and a black arrow plunged into his right shoulder. Link gasped in pain and the force of the arrow made him stumble backwards and land on his backside.  
  
"Link! Are you okay?!" Raykel asked, running to his side. Link grimaced and pulled the arrow out of his shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, I think so. Hurry and raise the alarm, there's monsters out there." Raykel informed his men, and with the Royal Guard running everywhere to wake people up, the whole castle was awake within five minutes. Link hurriedly used his Arlia plant on the arrow wound and went back to the wall. He looked down at the land right next to the castle saw many black monsters. He hadn't even heard them! It was still too dark to tell how many, but if the soldiers didn't hurry up the monsters would surely invade. They were already climbing the wall. Link heard some running and turned to see soldiers dashing up the stone steps onto the battlements. Zelda also appeared, running to Link.  
  
"What's going on?" She asked.  
  
"It's a night attack. Well, sorta. It'll be day soon. Remember those black monsters me and Saroe saw? They're here!" Link grabbed Zelda's arm and pulled her out of the way of a black arrow that had been aimed for her. They both turned to see more soldiers arriving. It looked like over half the Hylians were there now, and the gorons and zoras were gathering by the gate.  
  
"Orders, Princess!" Raykel said as he arrived, slashing at a monster that had climbed to the top of the wall.  
  
"W-what?" Zelda asked, staring at Hyrule Field. It was getting lighter as the sun neared the horizon, and everyone could see that this was no small raid. There were hundreds of swarming black beasts.  
  
"The King isn't here yet, Zelda. He means you have to command the army!" Link said.  
  
"Alright," Zelda said, nodding. She quckly conjured a light spell and made a glowing ball, throwing it into the air, where it hung suspended. The ball of light illuminated the dark force assaulting the castle, and nobody could supress a gasp as they looked apon the monsters. They were demons! Some had wolf heads with snake bodies, lizard bodies with spider heads...they were a black, writing swarm of body parts. Each one was different in appearance, but each was completely black, had red eyes, and a thirst for blood. They seemed to hate the light though, and shrank back blinking from the light ball. "Somebody lower the drawbridge so the zoras and gorons can attack! Archers, fire at will at the demons; and ground forces....half of you defend the wall, and the other half go help the zoras and gorons! Link, find Taig and go alert the flying forces."  
  
"Sure thing, Zelda." Link said, dashing off. The rest of the troops followed the Princess's orders, holding off the fierce demons. Link didn't have to look very far, and found Taig and his brother after running into the courtyard. He told Taig to alert the air forces, and then he and Chain went to join the ground forces. When they got there they quickly discovered that the demons were no ordinary monsters. Their skin, whether it was furry or scaley, had a strange, magical, slippery covering. Slashing at them was useless, since the sword slipped right off of them. Only thrusts were effective, and it was difficult to kill them that way becasue they were very fast. Their only weakness was that they weren't very smart.  
  
"Ganondorf's main force is coming!" Someone shouted, and Chain and Link both killed the demons they had been fighting and looked at the field. The sun had risen and though it was covered by grey clouds, it gave enough light for them to see a great army approaching. There were large flying demons in the sky, and below them were hundreds, perhaps thousands more ground demons, along with the normal monsters that hadn't been killed yet. To make matters worse, six demondragons lead the force, the foremost one ridden by Ganondorf. Four of the five dragons following Ganon were being ridden by creatures that couldn't be seen clearly, so Link assumed Ganondorf must have gotten some new generals to replace the ones he'd gotten rid of. "How did he get so many monsters?" "Where did they come from?" "How can we defeat all those?" These comments of fear and amazemnt along with others were heard as the force neared. They were moving fast, and were apon the castle in less than fifteen minutes. Luckily the air forces had been woken by this time, and joined the fray according to Zelda's orders. The demons and monsters were held back for a while by the ground and air forces, but there were so many that inevitably some broke through, into the castle and onto the battlements. Most of them were still being held off pretty well, until a demondragon flew over and its rider started chanting loudly. Link looked up as it passed and saw Feelock riding it.  
  
"Chain, look! Feelock's gone evil _again!_ When will that guy make up his mind?! I can't believe he'd go back to Ganondorf after being so nice to me and Sohran..." Chain looked mad, but stayed quiet, listening to the chanting.  
  
"Link, he's casting a darkness spell!" He said.  
  
"What?! But calwots don't have black magic!" Link pointed out.  
  
"It's not a black magic spell, it's just a spell that will darken everything. Look!" Suddenly Zelda's light ball went out, and the demons got more fierce. The sun was shrouded behind clouds, and Feelock's enchantment made everything so dark Link could barely see the monsters he was fighting, except he saw their red eyes. "Sheesh, I can't see a thing! Ouch!" Chain yelped as a cat-headed demon cut his shoulder with its knives. Link lashed out at where he thought the beast was, and felt something die on his blade with a demonic screech.  
  
"This is rediculous!" Link growled, channeling light magic into his sword. It brigtened up the immediate area, and Link saw to his horror that the castle was quickly beccoming overrun. Nobody could see what they were doing, and the demons were winning. King Daphnes, finally arriving, shouted commands that most couldn't hear over the screams of the dying. Suddenly a bright burst of light illuminated the battlefield, coming from above. Hyrule's allies looked up to see Sahoriel the Dragon Queen maintaining a light spell. A demondragon, comparitavely small in size to the Queen approached her.  
  
"We meet again, Sahoriel and Cirokaal!" Ganondorf yelled from the back of his demondragon. "Surrender now, before I destroy you both!" Sahoriel and Cirokaal (hovering next to her) burst out laughing, nearly blowing the demondragon away.  
  
"**You do not frighten us, puny Gerudo**!" Cirokaal roared.   
  
"You will regret your words," Ganon retorted. Link watched from the ground as Ganon began forming some dark magic between his palms. Then some whitish wisps of magic came out of the King and Queen dragons, going into Ganondorf's spell.  
  
"**How are you doing this**?!" Sahoriel asked in alarm, as an enormous shadow dragon was formed from Ganondorf's spell. It grew until it was as big as Sahoriel, then split into two halfs (which grew into whole dragons)and roared. The two shade dragons attacked the royal mountain dragons, forcing them to abandon the light spell and fight for their lives. Once again the entire Hyrule castle was blanketed in a thick darkness. Link heard Taig shout 'mother!' from somewhere and knew that the dragon would probably try to help his parents. Link was about to try and find a flying creature to help him help Taig, but heard screams to his right and saw some flying demons picking up Hylians. After picking them up, the demons bit their necks, and flew away with them. Link rushed out into an open area on the right of the battlefield (next to Zelda's trench), put away his sword, and took aim with a light arrow at one of the escaping demons. But before he could shoot, two demondragons flew over and their riders hopped off, falling down to where Link was. They were the white and green glowing generals that Link had seen the other day. He had already defeated thier blue and red counterparts, and hoped these would be less challenging than the other two. They didn't look it, though.  
  
The green one was a strange lizard that walked on two legs. Its head was shaped like a komodo dragon's, but its eyes were like a gecko's. Its paws also resembled gecko paws, and its tail was long and spiked like a dragon's. It wore gold bands at various places of it's body, from which hung baggy, clothes-like white material. It was emerald green with an ivory-colored chest and black stripes on its back. It wore a bronze chestplate with a rose on it.  
  
"Lord Ganondorf has sent us to eliminate you, and we never fail in our duty," The beast said, only opening its mouth slightly to talk. "What were once a harmless mocko and a child unicorn are now elements of devistation," It hissed, pulling out two long green whips covered in thorns.   
  
"Do not underestimate us, mancreature." The white one said. It looked like a white horse with black and grey markings that stood on its hind legs, but its hands were like a human's. Its white and black mane and tail were very long, and it had large wings. It wore silvery, intricately detailed bands on its arms, legs, and neck, and it wore a metal mask from which protruded a metallic black unicorn horn. "We are not as weak as FireKatt and IceWulf were." Just like the other two generals, these two had eyes that glowed and an aura of magic around them.  
  
"So Ganondorf has a sissy unicorn and a big-headed lizalfos wannabe for generals? What are your names, BreakWind and FlowerPower?" Both of them growled in irritation and Link drew his sword.   
  
"We are PlantMokko and WindMehr. Prepare to meet the end of your road, human..." WindMehr said.  
  
"Yeah, I've heard that befo-ack!" A vine shot out of the ground behind Link, grabbing his chest and pulling him to the ground. It held him there as others sprouted, wrapping tightly around his right ankle, left arm, and neck. Before more could grow, Link yanked the dagger out of his left boot (he always kept it there) and cut the vines holding him. He put the dagger away and jumped up, slashing at PlantMokko. The lizard jumped out of the way, whipping at Link. He blocked it with his Hylian shield and cut at the beast again, this time grazing his arm with the tip of the Master Sword. "Is that all you've got, FlowerPower?" He taunted. He then felt a strange sensation on his head and looked up, discovering that a flower had grown out of his forehead. Irritably, he brushed it off.  
  
"You'll get more of those if you call me that ignorant name again, mancreature," PlantMokko said, making a tree shoot out of the ground next to him.  
  
"And if you call me mancreature again, I'll give you little dents on your head to match my flowers!" Link hadn't been paying attention to WindMehr and the horse snuck up behind him. Using his wickedly sharp metal horn, he slashed Link's back so hard it threw him into the tree, screaming. Then the quick horse ran to the other side of the tree and grabbed Link's wrists on either side, holding him against the trunk. PlantMokko walked calmly behind him, fiddling with his whips.   
  
"Men have died from fourty lashes of a normal whip, mancreature," PlantMokko said. Link called him FlowerPower and a rose sprouted from his ear. "Let's see how many you can take from my thorn-covered vine whips!" The gecko-like beast first used his whips skillfully to whip Link's shield and scabberd off his back, then gave him one strong crack of the whip.  
  
"Ahhhh! Man, that stings!" Link said, trying to twist his wrists out of WindMehr's grip. Unfortunately, the horse gripped his wrists so tightly he couldn't even hit him with his sword. The annoying lizard whipped him again. As it tried to whip Link a third time, he raised his foot up behind him and the whip wrapped around his boot. Then he kicked forward and PlantMokko, not letting go of his precious whip, got yanked towards Link. When the lizard reached Link, the Hylian kicked him stongly in the gut, making him gasp and fall over. Link then sucked in a huge breath and used his gautlets to uproot PlantMokko's tree. WindMehr let go of him, but before he could get off the trunk Link slammed it to the ground, trapping the horse underneath it. PlantMokko got up and tried tried to slash Link with his claws, but Link sidestepped and channeled some light magic into his sword. He drove it into PlantMokko's side, and with a high-pitched scream the lizard turned back into a harmless little mocko baby (a mocko is a monster gecko and when they're babies they're about the size of a cat).   
  
WindMehr snorted furiously and his wings began to glow, then he summoned a tornado, which was strong enough to send the tree hurling off him. Amazed by this power, Link stepped back and picked up his shield and scabbard, re-equiping them. WindMehr then made his human hands transform into horse hooves and began to gallop in very fast circles around Link in the air (he flapped his wings and ran at the same time, about four feet off the ground). Link powered up his sword again, but before he could do anything, the wind the horse summoned lifted him off his feet and slammed him into the ground forty feet away. Link got up, groaning and rubbing his shoulder. He looked at the ground and saw some of his own blood on it, then looked up and WinMehr was right in his face! This horse is wicked fast, he thought, observing that the hooves had turned back to hands as he stepped backwards. WindMehr's wings glowed again as he grabbed Link's shoulder and some strange power forced the air out of the Hylian's lungs. He gasped and tried to pull the unicorn's hand off, but the annoying thing gripped him tightly like before. The horse wan't even touching his neck, but he felt like he was being choked...  
  
"Fool, I have all power over the air. I could make all oxygen leave your cells and kill you instantly, but I'd rather see you die slowly..." Link pulled out his dagger and cut WindMehr's wrist with it, making him let go.  
  
"And I could drive my sword through you," Link said, breathing heavily. "But I just realized how to nullify your power!" The vine whip PlantMokko had dropped was on the ground next to Link, and it seemed obvious to him that WindMehr's wings gave him his power. Since the opposite elements of fire and ice could destroy eachother, Link figured that in this case earth and wind had that quality too. He grabbed the whip and lashed at WindMeh'rs wings. The vines whip's thorns tore them to shreds, rendering WindMehr wind-powerless.  
  
"I will kill you for this, mancreature." The unicorn growled, pawing the ground.  
  
"What are you going to do, Mr. BreakWind?" Link asked, grinning. The angry horse charged and Link backflipped to avoid it's horn, and when he landed he put a large cut in the horse's neck. It transformed into a cute baby unicorn. It was a relief that he'd defeated those two generals, but Link was far from calm. He looked over at the castle and could barely see, but it looked like the Hyrule air forces had beaten most flying demons and were now helping with the ground ones. Calwots and dragons had very good sight in the dark, so with some luck they might just drive the demons out of the castle. But some remaining flying demons were still carrying Hylians away. Link had no idea why they were doing this, but he had to stop it. It would be a lot easier with Zelda's help, so Link ran toward the castle. On his way he ran by Garret. "Can I trust you to take care of those?" Link asked him, pointing back at the unicorn and mocko.   
  
"Well sure, but- hey!" Garret stopped talking since Link had already dashed off. Link encoutered group of monsters on the way, but effectively got them to leave him alone by using the Kai-ten-giri attack. Finally he made it to the drawbridge and ran inside, killing monsters on his way to the battlements. That was where he had last seen Zelda. When he was almost there, the reason Ganondorf's monsters were stealing Hylians hit him. Not only did he want POWs (prisoners of war) for an advantage, but it was to take focus off the Royal Family. If soldiers were too busy trying to help thier friends and failing in this blackness, they wouldn't be thinking of their leader, who they couldn't hear over the screaming anyways.   
  
Ganondorf had realized the same thing. The soldier couldn't hear their King's commands, so who would hear a call for help? He observed that the calwots and dragons were slowly destroying his air force, so he had to move quickly before they completely drove away his ground monsters. He led his demondragon over to the battlements where King Hyrule was, and leapt off. The King's bodyguards attacked him immediately, but Ganondorf simply used his magic to kill them or throw them off the wall.   
  
"Pathetic! I hope you can fight better than your guards, Daphnes!" Ganon challenged. Zelda was there too, and though she was terrified of Ganondorf, she knew her light magic might be the only thing that could save her father.   
  
"Zelda, no!" King Hyrule yelled, seeing his daughter rush at Ganon with a sharp light spell in her hand. But Ganondorf wasn't as slow as he used to be and dodged. King Hyrule screamed in anger as Ganondorf grabbed Zelda's face and threw her off the wall, into the swarm of monsters below. Zelda landed on top of a demon, and recovering quickly, she ran it through with a magic sword. Then she transformed into Sheik and did a flip out of the ring of monsters. She took out some needle-like darts and used them to climb the castle wall, sticking them in the little crevices between stones. She climbed so fast that the demons couldn't catch her, and she was to the top in a matter of seconds. As she reached the top she saw her father battling Ganondorf to the right. He had his long, straight sword pressed up against Ganondorf's curved swords. The Evil King radiated darkness, and King Hyrule glowed softly with light. _I didn't know father had magic_, Sheik thought, heaving herself over the side of the wall. _I have to reach my father before it's too la-...NO!_ It was already too late. Ganondrof was faster than Daphnes, and had taken his blade off the Hyrulian King's. He then drove his sword into Daphnes's chest faster than Sheik could blink.   
  
"This isn't over, Ganondorf." Daphnes Hyrule hissed, blood dripping from his mouth.   
  
"You're right, Daphnes. This is only the beginning." Ganondorf said, smiling darkly. King Hyrule glowed a strange red, then dissappeared. Blood covered the ground where he had been, and Ganondorf laughed insanely. No matter what the red flash had meant, Ganondorf had dealt him a deadly blow. Zelda knew she wouldn't be seeing her father again.  
  
"Ganondorf, you'll get it for this!!" Sheik and Link (just arriving on the wall) shouted at the same time. They came at him from either side, both using light magic. Ganondorf flew into the air, escaping back to his dragon. Link would have tried to shoot him, but was distracted by Sheik. She saw the pool of blood, and knew her father was dead. Her only surviving parent, had now been taken from her by the King of Evil. She fell to her knees, not able to hold back the tears that came to her eyes. "My Father...no...." It made Link rather heavyhearted as well. He hadn't always agreed with Daphnes's decisions, but he had always tried his best and had been a pretty good King, friend, and father to Zelda. Not to mention seeing Zelda cry so pitifully made him very sad itself. The battle raged on around them as Link kneeled and embraced the princess. She hugged him tightly, crying into his chest. It went on like that for a minute or so, Sheik crying on Link and miraculously nothing attacking them. Then Sheik let go of Link and sat back, wiping her eyes. "There will...be a time to grieve for him," Sheik said, almost not able to speak. "But right now...we have to prevent more deaths, Link."   
  
"Yeah," Link said, his eyes slightly moist. "Hylians are being stolen. I've gotta follow the monsters and find out where they're being taken..."  
  
"I'm going with you." Sheik said.  
  
"But Zelda, you have to command the army-" To Link's surprise she threw her arms around him again.   
  
"Link, I'm going with you! Don't leave me!" She pleaded. He sighed, not able to turn her down.  
  
"Alright, but you have to designate a leader to take over for you," Link said. Sheik nodded. She spoke to Sahoriel telepathically, telling the Dragon Queen to take over in her absence. The Queen was enraged to find out that Daphnes had died, and in a burst of fierceness destroyed the dragonshade she had been battling. Her and her dragons took new courage, killing demons by the group. After Shiek had casted Faore's Wind and made a warp point at the castle, her and Link found some surviving demons that were trying to steal Hylians, and managed to get stolen themselves. They pretended to be unconscious so they wouldn't get bitten, and the demons carried them far from the battlefield. By that time Ganondorf's army was starting to lose, so he called for a retreat.

"No!" I shout, jumping in front of the soldier. All I was thinking was this: If I don't block that hit, it'll surely finish that wounded guy...but since when was I like this? I am not my brother, I don't risk my life for others all the time...what is driving me to do this? Is it because I'm the Sage of Light? The glowing, club-like paw of the demon-bear-bug-thing smashes right into the side of my head, and I feel like my cranium is going to explode with the pain! Light flashes before my eyes and then I can see nothing. Am I blind? Unconscious? Dead? I can't move or feel anything....well it's paw was glowing, it must have done something to me...  
  
Then something else happens: a memory pops up without me even trying to remember it. I'm re-living the memory...how wierd! It feels like there's two of me inside myself, the one who is there and the one who just got hit by the demon. At least it is a pleasant memory, a recent one. Malon sits across from me, we're on a hill in Royal Field that's somewhat close to the castle and it's night time. The sky is pretty much overcast, but we can see the milky outline of the moon's light, and some stars through small gaps in the clouds. I look at Malon - gosh, she's so beautiful - and she smiles at me with that heart-melting smile. I can't believe this girl didn't have a boyfrind. I can't believe she'd want me, after what happened to me in my past. I told her all about it yesterday and it didn't even phase her. She said she still loved me for who I was, not caring what happened to me. And here she was now, she came out here with me, saying she wanted to spend time with me. I realize I'm staring at her and look at the ground, my face feeling hot.  
  
"Chain, you're so cute," Malon says, giggling and scooting closer to me. My cheecks get even redder as she sits right next to me, looking at my face. "Hey, don't be embarassed! There's no need to worry about anything, Chain. You can think about the war and all that later. Right now, the only thing I'm thinking of is you." Her soft-skinned arm comes up and rests over my shoulders, and she leans over and kisses my forehead. "I really, really like you, Chain. You're so nice to me...and you're great with horses, too, just like Link. Except you have more time for me...he's always busy with 'Hero of Time' buisiness, you know? Trying to get close to him is like chasing a never-tiring wild horse!"  
  
"Yeah, he's a pretty busy guy..." I mutter quietly. She actually kissed me! I can't believe this..."But I'm the Sage of Light and a warrior. I'm sorry if I can't spend all my time with you either..."  
  
"It's okay," She says quickly. "As long as you try. And as long as I know the way you feel about me is the same way I feel about you. Promise to try to be with me as much as you can?" I look up at her and I'm almost startled by how pretty she is. It's the same way everytime I look at her, from the first time I ever looked at her...those sparkling eyes, the deep red hair, the happy, pretty face...she's wonderful. Her personality only makes her face more radiant.  
  
"I promise, Malon. And you can assured of the way I feel..." My lips are inches from hers. I continue to watch myself re-live the memory in this wierd me-inside-of-me experience...I really like this memory, and I know what I'm about to say, what I'm about to do...then something black distorts the memory. I heard an evil voice say something intellegible, and the memory shifts into something horrifying. Another memory. My worst memory. And I can't escape it! I am seven years old, and I'm shaking in fear. I'm in the prescence of him, that horrible, terrifying Gerudo...I was just taken to him on horseback by one of his loyal servants and now he's walking up to me, a freaky grin on his face. He looks pleased and begins to speak, but I'm so scared I can't even tell what he's saying as I stare at the ground. Something about me being ready for something more...then his big ugly boots fill my view. His cold hand latches onto my chin and pulls my face up to stare into those evil, red-and-yellow orbs of hate...his other hand comes up to cover my forehead and my eyes squeeze shut as an intense pain washes over me. I scream loudly as I feel a writhing, black mass of malice forcing its way into my mind...Then the memory dissappears and I'm left in the dark.  
  
**Section 6  
  
Preventing Deaths**   
  
_Tal says: despite the nice-sounding name, this section is pretty dark. But don't give up and stop reading becasue it looks like evil will win! My stories always have happy endings!_  
  
The ignorant demons carried Link and Sheik halfway across Hyrule Field, until they came to the area that had used to be Lon Lon Ranch. The two Hylians risked a glance up, and stared in amazement at what looked like a mini Ganon's Castle. Or the top of one, anyways. The stone building had towers and such, but was only about half the size of Ganondorf's real fortress. How many castles does this guy have?! Link wondered irritably. As they entered the place, Link and Sheik experienced a strange sensation momentarily, but forgot it as the demons carrying them discovered they were awake, and tried to bite them. The Hylians killed them. They had only been about twenty feet off the ground, so falling wasn't a problem. The Hylians evaded the guards within the castle, then began their search for the captive soldiers.

Footsteps echo through the blackness, and nothing is visible. What is the point of those footsteps? I'm not moving, so who is? I open my eyes slowly and see black above me. With a sharp intake of breath I sit bolt upright. I was sleeping? Where the heck am I? I remember...fighting...flying...The footsteps draw nearer. I look down and find I was laying on a rather soft bed. I'm in a nicely furnished room with stone walls and red carpet. The only light in the room is given by the green-fire torches lining the walls. The wood door of the room swings open and I jump out of the bed. Feelock of all people walks in!  
  
"What is this place?!" I demand angrilly.  
  
"You're home." He responds, smiling to show his sharp teeth.  
  
"What the heck kind of answer is that?! This is _clearly_ not Hyrule Castle! Hey...you're evil again, aren't you?"   
  
"Well, not really." The calwot responds. "So, I hear you're the new Sage of Light, Dragonlord." He says, his creepy smile vanishing.  
  
"Yes, I am the Sage of Light. But I am not the Dragonlord anymore! Why in the bloody heck are you working for Ganondorf after everything Link's done for you?" I ask, glaring at the traitor.  
  
"I...Well, he's got some very strong leverage, you see. It's none of your buisiness, but he's got a friend of mine captured..." He frowns, looking sincerely like he regrets his siduation. "If I do something Ganondorf doesn't like, he'll kill her. Anyhow, I came to ask if you want anything."  
  
"Heck yeah! I want Ganondorf to drop dead and let me out of his stupid castle!"  
  
"Very sorry, Dragonlord." I cringe involuntarily from the sound of that voice. That horrible, poisonous voice..."But I do not feel compelled to drop and die for the likes of your slimey kind. Got tired of serving me, did you?!" Ganondorf enters the room, and bowing, Feelock leaves. "After I was sealed you decided you were off the hook, eh? Did my enduced memories remind you of why you are mine?" He walks toward me slowly, and I have to violently fight the urge to back away. Why's he gotta be so freakin' scary?!  
  
"I...I didn't just give up, you know...I tried to...what the heck am I saying?! Your stupid evil spirit isn't in me anymore, and there's no way I feel any loyalty to you, you...monster! You killed my parents and now you want to kill my brother!" I'm practically shaking with rage and fear at the same time. How could I be brave enough to say such a thing? He's gonna kill me...  
  
"I fine observation. Now I will make one. I observe that you're a cringing dog that will call me master once again, or die a slow death. Either you'll kill Link for me, or I'll kill you to hurt him." Ganondorf gets closer to me. Crud, I don't want to die! But there's no way I''ll work for him again. What do I do? I really wish Link were here...my courage seeps out of me.  
  
"N-never....I'll never work for you again, G-Ganondorf..." I can't fight the urge anymore. My body shakes involuntarily as I back up, and feel my back press against the bedpost behind me. Ganondorf raises him arm, making a fist. I shudder.  
  
"Last chance, Dragonlord!" I wonder something as he raises that fist. Why doesn't he just put another evil spirit in me like last time? I know, probably because it was easy when I was a little kid, and now it wouldn't work. Or maybe because I'm the Sage of Light...hey, that's right! I'm the Sage of Light. I close my eyes and freak out as he tries to punch me, and lacking a better thing to do, I block his punch with one hand. What, my hand didn't break off? I open my eyes and see my hand glowing! I must have summoned my light magic..."Light magic. So, you really are the Sage of Light," Ganondorf says, watching his hand sizzle quietly from the magic. Then his fist turns black with evil magic, sending a wave of jolting pain through my body. I scream in agony and fall back, onto the bed. Dang that hurt! He leans over me and grips my neck with his huge hand, staring at me with those bloody red eyes. "You obviously haven't got the hang of your powers yet." He smiles wolfishly. "And you never will. Since you won't work for me again, I've got a little question...what is Link's weakness? You must know it. He's weak to dark magic, but not weak enough. He must have a worse weakness. What is it?!" I cringe from his yell and choke from his grip. I'm going to die...

"So, how long do you think it will take for Ganondorf to come in here and kill us, eh?" A soldier asked aimlessly.  
  
"Don't be so pessimistic! We are Royal Guards and Hyrule Army soldiers! We aren't going down without a fight." Another one said. "We've only been in this Fortress for about half an hour. He'll probably come soon, and we'll attack him."  
  
"How do you expect to do that, behind bars?" Corb asked irritably. He and the other soldiers were all together in a large cell. Three cell walls were bars, and the back of the cell was connected to the stone wall of the huge room they were in. Corb had only been semi-conscious when they got to the place they were in, but he had observed that it wasn't that huge of a place, so why was this huge room here? The place felt bigger than it should be...All the soldiers's attention was drawn to the right side of the room (there was a large entrance there) as Ganondorf came striding through it, followed by three monstrous demondragons.  
  
"Link, look! We finally found them!" Sheik said excitedly, pointing. He and the Princess had been looking around the place for half an hour (and the place was quite big, despite how small it had looked on the outside. Link figured it must be some kind of spell, and that would explain the sensation they had felt apon enterring). Link simply said 'yeah'. They were on the opposite side of the room that Ganondorf was entering from, hidden behind a corner. Then they spotted the Gerudo King approaching the cell.  
  
"Well well, it seems I've caught quite a few of you." Ganondorf said. Raptyrant came out from behind him.   
  
"They've been talking about attacking you for a while now," The boney creature said. "By the way Lord Ganondorf, did you, eh..._finish _with your other prisoner?"  
  
"I didn't kill him yet, if that's what you mean. I will wait for a better time to do that. By the way, has Llance returned from the battlefield?" Ganondorf asked, nearly to the cell.  
  
"Yes, he arrived not ten minutes ago. Would you like me to summon him?"  
  
"No, I will deal with him later. The fool....Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, I seem to have caught at least a score of Hylians. Some high-ranking ones, too. They will make nice prisoners...or nice meals." Ganon said, smiling and rubbing the chin of the demondragon closest to him. "It all depends on how well you men cooperate with me."  
  
"We refuse to cooperate," A high-ranking Hyrule Army officer said.  
  
"You refuse," Ganon said. "Perhaps your men are not so brave. I smell fear." Ganondorf opened the cell and stepped inside, locking it behind him. Some soldiers tensed up, but none attacked. "It's this simple. Those of you that are willing to give me important information about Hyrule or the Hero of Time's weakness will live. The rest..." Ganon looked meaningfully at his dragons.  
  
"My weakness? What the heck is he talking about? This is getting more confusing by the minute! He takes my puny ocarina, doesn't take my triforce, doesn't kill me even though he could, and now he's looking for a weakness despite the fact he kicked my butt? Everyone knows I'm weak to black magic...what's he looking for?" Link pondered.  
  
"I don't know. This is very complex, he seems to be plotting something that involves you being alive. But now he seeks a weakness...I cannot figure it out." Sheik said quietly. _Even the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom can't solve this enigma. I've got a bad feeling...why the heck would he want me alive? _Link pondered.  
  
"Shouldn't we help the soldiers, Zelda?" Link asked, his hand itching to draw his sword.  
  
"If we charge in there now, he'll only kill them, Link. We need a plan." Sheik said, watching Ganondorf stare at the men.  
  
"So, who has information and wants to live? You wont stay in here of course, because your friends would probably kill you." Ganon said. "I'll put useful prisoners in a nicer cell."  
  
"Forget the idea, Ganondorf!" A particularly young soldier shouted. Link recognized him - it was Ector. Some soldiers still had thier weapons, but Ector was not one of them. That's why it was particularly unwise to run at Ganondorf as he did.  
  
"Hah hah hah...You little fool." Ganondorf stopped Ector by grabbing his face calmly. He then walked to the stone wall and threw Ector into it, nearly making him unconscious. He grabbed the soldier's collar and dragged him to his feet. "Your courage is admirable. Reminds me of another boy your age. And trust me, that is not a good thing." Ganondorf drew his dagger. "Somebody better spit out some info now, or hero wannabe here dies." Link really, really wanted to charge, but Sheik grabbed his shoulder.   
  
"Link, even if Ganondorf does stab Ector, I can heal it, remember? We have to figure a way to get Ganon out of here." Link looked around the room and noticed the ceiling was overgrown with dark green vines. Perhaps they could use those...  
  
"Release him, Ganondorf!" Garret (yes, he had been captured, too) ran at Ganon, brandishing his long spear. Most of the other soldiers ran at him as well, hoping to overpower him with numbers. Ganon's knife turned dark purple and glowed with dark power as he spun around, attacking all the men surrounding him with what resembled a small, dark, half Kai-ten-giri. All the men fell back but Garret, who had blocked with his spear. Ganon grabbed that spear, broke it in half, and stuck the sharp end into Garet's chest before he could blink. It went right through the armor, poking out the other side. _Garret! Dangit, we've got to do soemthing before he kills them all!_ Link thought urgently. Garret blinked a few times, looking down disbelievingly at the spear in his chest. Ganondorf, grinning, shoved him over and watched him scream in pain, coughing out blood.   
  
"No....uncle Garret!" Ector yelled, getting to his feet. "I'm going to kill you!" He yelled, foolishly running at Ganon again. "I'm going to kill you, you murdering ba-" His words were cut off as ganondorf gripped his neck.   
  
"Temper, temper. You fools are dumber then I thought. I may have to kill you all." Ganondorf muttered uncaringly.   
  
"Zelda, I've got an idea." Link said, staring with rage at Ganondorf. How he wanted to stick a sword in him... "Levetate me or teleport me or something to the ceiling on the other side of this room. Then change my voice to sound like Llance's."  
  
"Llance's? Why?" Sheik asked.  
  
"He should be here now. If I can get Ganondorf out of here with his voice, you can break open that cage and heal Garret before he dies." Sheik nodded. The soldiers stared nervously at Ganondorf. With a flick of his wrist, he could kill Ector instantly. He squeezed his neck tighter, making the men flinch to see him suffer.  
  
"I'm waiting." Ganondorf said. "And he's dying."  
  
"Heartless bastard," A soldier named Bodac hissed. (sorry to those of you who consider bastard to be a cussword. I don't think it is) "You'd really just kill a kid like that?"  
  
"If I must," Ganondorf replied. But something wierd came over his face and then to everyone's surprise, he threw Ector down. The boy coughed deeply, clutching his throat. "It seems none of you will talk. Commendable loyalty I must say, but it makes no difference to me. My demondrgaons were getting hungry, and I promised my three best ones they would eat human flesh." Ganondorf walked out of the cell and locked it again. "But first I have to cook you!" The soldiers gasped collectively. Ganondorf put his hand on a bar of the cell, and immediately the whole thing was alive with black lightening. The men screamed in pain but then Ganon stopped, hearing a voice.   
  
"Master Ganondorf, please come quickly! I have some urgent news." Llance's voice said, seeminly from the entrance Ganondorf had come through. "I will only take but a moment, King. I am sorry to interrupt you." Ganondorf sighed irritably.  
  
"Llance, you are in plenty of trouble as it is. This had better be important! My dragons, you can eat them now," Ganondorf said as he left the room, Raptyrant following. _Crud!_ Link thought. _How am I going to get rid of those dragons?!_ Link was about to say something, but was surprised to hear that his voice now sounded like Ganondorf's! The dragons walked up to the cell, the largest one pawing at the door...  
  
"Wait, my dragons," Link called loudly. "There is first a much tastier human in here you can eat. Come and eat him first, and then you can eat those soldiers." The two smaller dragons eagerly ran out of the room, but the larger one looked suspicious.   
  
"Are you not ssspeaking with Llanccce, Lord Ganondorf?" The dragon asked. It could talk! This dragon was obviously older and wiser thant he rest. His voice was not booming and proud like a mountain dragon's, but quiet and silky.  
  
"He's the human I want you to eat!" Link said quickly, not able to think of anything better. The dragon raised an eyebrow, but obediantly left the room. Link sighed in relief, and the vine he had been hanging from broke. "Ahhghhhhh!" He screamed, plummeting to the ground and rolling when he hit it to lessen the impact. He didn't break anything. "Oweeee..."  
  
"It's Link!" The soldiers said, all running to the side of the cell. "Are you okay?"   
  
"Yeah, yeah. Just peachy." Link mumbled, getting up and rubbing his back. "That was pretty smart, making my voice sound like Ganon's," Link said to Sheik as she ran over to the cell and began opening the lock. The soldiers bowed to her (everyone had long ago learned that Sheik was Zelda) as she entered, running to Garret and healing him. Luckily, he was a strong man, and was just fine. The soldiers filed out of the cell. "That was a brave thing, that heartless comment," Link said to Bodac as he passed. "Maybe it's what got Ganondorf to let go of Ector. I told you you were brave." Link and Bodac had been friends for over half a year. Bodac blushed.   
  
"It wasn't that brave, and I'm sure he wouldv'e let go of Ector anyways..." He said. Now all the sodliers were out.   
  
"Zelda, you'll have to lead them out of here," Link said. "I have something to take care of-"  
  
"Don't even consider it, Link! You are not going to fight Ganondorf! Remember my dream? It will come to pass if you fight him!" Link sighed.  
  
"But Zelda, listen to this. That white bird you said Ganondorf had all by itself...and that prisoner the dead lizalfos talked about...this guy must be somebody special. I can feel it. I think it's a Sage." Link said.  
  
"Now that you mention it, I do feel the prescence of a Sage here..." Sheik said.  
  
"Guess what, I'll find where this Sage is and try not to get caught. As soon as the soldiers are safe, contact me telepathically and you can come help me rescue him or her. Agreed?" Zelda frowned, glaring at the innocent look on Link's face.  
  
"You're plotting something, aren't you? Well if this little stunt gets you killed, Link, don't come crying to me!" Sheik huffed, turning around. "Follow me," She said to the soldiers, and they all left the way Link and Sheik had come. _I can't believe I convinced her,_ Link thought. Then another thought struck him. _What if I get lost in this place, and Ganondorf finds Zelda? I'll have to follow Ganon and make sure that doesn't happen. He'll eventually lead me to the Sage, anyways..._The stupidity of what Link was doing struck him as he rushed down the hall Ganondorf had gone through. If he wasn't extremely careful, he'd both break his promise to Zelda and proably die. But then again, would Ganondorf kill him now, after sparing him twice? It was a mystery...Link found Ganondorf sooner than he expected. He didn't see the demondragons on the way, (did they get lost?) and heard raised voices in the next room. He hid in the shadows of the arch leading to the room.   
  
"Llance, what is your problem? You called and are not even in the next room, and I have to spend five minutes of my precious time looking for you?! Unless...." Link saw Ganondorf and Llance alone in the room. It was quite a large room, and the back of it opened to the sky, which was stormy.   
  
"I did not call for you, Master. Something must be here..." He glanced at the arch. Link quickly moved to where he couldn't be seen, holding his breath. Had Llance seen him? Apparently not. "Has anything else unusual happened?"  
  
"No, but something certainly has snuck in here if you did not call me. And that something has undoubtedly released the soldiers by now, curses! Oh well, it won't take long to stop them. First, I need to talk with you." Llance's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. "Llance, I graciously gave you plenty of time to re-group your drouge army after the heroes of this country scattered it. You could not do this, so I mercifully gave you one last chance to redeem yourself by ensuring that my demons captured useful prisoners. None have proved useful. The absence of your army caused the destruction of mine, and I am being made a fool of in my own castle because your prisoners are good for nothing but food. One may yet prove slightly useful, but not particularly. What do you have to say for yourself, Kaarinean?" Ganondorf semmed angry. Llance seemed worried.  
  
"I can still be useful on the battlefield, my King...I have powerful spells..." He began.  
  
"Silence! Your magic is not nearly powerful enough to make much of a difference on the battlefild. The truth is, Llance, your usefulness to me had ended." Ganondorf said, grinning and enjoying the spread of worry over Llance's face.  
  
"But King, the month will change tomorrow, and my powers will be derived from a more widely-destructive constellation...King, I can be useful!" Llance said, taking a step backward as Ganondorf approached him._ How many people does this guy bully every day?_ Link wondered. _He must get a kick out of hurting people. That shouldn't surprise me...  
  
_ "I don't need you, Llance. I attack with my demondragons next. Hyrule will not expect it, and with thier King gone, my dragons will easily obliterate their army. You can't possibly help." Ganondorf was now directly in front of Llance and stopped. Llance was actually pretty brave, considering he didn't run.   
  
"Please reconsider, King...even if I can't be useful, please do not drag my country into this..."  
  
"We had an agreement. You serve me satisfactorily, and I spare your puny country. You've broken that pact, and I fully intend to give you and your people what they deserve, death!" Link watched in indesicion as Ganondorf grabbed Llance's collar and shocked him with dark lightening. _Llance must not be truly evil if that stuff can hurt him_, Link thought. _But he did try to kill me, and his drouges tried to kill my friends...should I save him? If I do that, Ganondorf will know I'm here_...Llance screamed in pain and Ganondorf punched his jaw, sending him hurling to the ground. Llance didn't even fight back, knowing he couldn't win and fighting Ganon would only bring his people more pain. He got to his feet shakily. "You tried your best, Llance." Ganondorf sneered. "So I'll give you a pretty quick death." Ganondorf put his arms around Llance and began to crush him with his emense strength. "Enjoy the moment, Llance. This is the last hug you'll ever get!" He said, laughing as Llance screamed. Ganon was squeezing the air out of him, putting immense pressure on his much smaller body. Link couldn't take it anymore. Sitting back and watching people die, friend or foe, was not something he was capable of. Llance screamed louder and Link heard something in the Kaarinean break. Finally Llance couldn't scream anymore for lack of air, all he could do was gasp in pain. It was now or never.  
  
"Leave him alone, Ganondorf!" Link shouted, jumping out from behind the wall and aiming a light arrow at Ganondorf. He didn't even have to fire it, because Ganondorf dropped Llance from surprise.   
  
"Link...you are the one that's here...Hahahahahhaa! I shouldn't be surprised, should I?!" Llance coughed and tried to rise but couldn't. Link saw a trickle of blood come from his mouth as he looked up at him. Then Link heard a voice in his mind. _Link...for saving me I thank you. But Ganondorf will still destroy my country if I cannot be useful to him. I apologize for this_. Llance raised his hand and some invisible force threw Link against the wall. He found that he was pinned to it by magical barbs, piercing his clothes. "Llance, he just saved you. Are you a fool, or simply very loyal?" Ganondorf asked.  
  
"Perhaps a bit of both," He lied, coughing weakly. Ganondorf laughed quietly.  
  
"I can tell you could produce many spells like that one. Perhaps you could be useful to me, if you used spells like that on Hyrule's flying creatures...Get youself out of here, we'll discuss this later!" Llance made a tremendous effort and hauled himself to his feet. He cast an apologetic look at Link as he passed. Link wasn't sure if he regretted saving him or not. He probably did regret it, but his goody-good side didn't let him know. As Llance left, the barbs vanished and Link fell to the ground. Sheik had healed his wounds from earlier, but Link was still aware of just how vulnerable he was as he faced Ganondorf. He figured he would have to apologize to Zelda from the spirit world.

"Now all of you hold onto me or eachother. Make sure everyone is together, now." Sheik instructed. She had just made another Faore's Wind warp point (unlike Link, she could cast two at once) And her and the soldiers were outside the fortress, because she had lead them on the quickest path. She had also found and freed another prisoner on the way, a tiger-striped calwot called Tarisla. All the men and cat joined, and Zelda worked her transportation spell. It was an advanced type of Faore's Wind, and the soldiers and Princess were back at the castle in a rushing of green magic. They looked around and saw people helping get the dead and wounded off the battlefield according to Sahoriels's order. All the demon corpses were gone, so Sheik assumed they must have dissappeared in blue fire like last time.  
  
"Queen Zelda, what would you have us do?" Bodac asked.  
  
"Queen? I am not a Queen until I have a King with me. Just keep calling me Princess. You men help with the dead. I'm going back to help Link."  
  
"Zelda, you're back!" Impa yelled, running to her. "Zelda, I have grave news. The Sage of Light is gone."

"What a wonderful time to show up, Link. And all by yourself? Whatever happened to your friends?" Ganondorf asked. Link didn't answer, only drawing his sword. "Eager to start, are you? No, maybe you're not. You don't seem as spirited as usual, Hero of Time. You know you're going to lose again. You will fail your country and make fools of the godesses." He grinned. "Now that you're here, I don't care if the soldiers escape. It's you I want." He drew his double swords "Give me your triforce, Link!"  
  
"That's a dumb request," Link said, "Considering you could've taken it twice by now. What are you plotting? I'm not stupid, I know you're up to something. You took my ocarina and didn't kill me."  
  
"Well well, he does have a brain. You think you're on to me, huh? Well then you know I'm not going to kill you right now. I'm going to do something I think might be much worse."  
  
"Not if I can stop you..." Link said. Ganondorf laughed.  
  
"What's more pathetic than a boy making threats he can't carry out? A boy making threats even he knows he can't carry out! Your voice lacks conviction. You might as well give up, becasue you're not going to beat me like that!" Ganondorf declared. _He's right_, Link thought. _He knows I think I can't defeat him...this is pathetic! How am I going to beat him like this? Simple, I wont...Whatever he's going to do, it's likely I can't stop him. He's beaten me twice, I doubt it will be any different this time. I have no spirit to fight him with anymore_..."Hahahahaha! Are you afraid of me, Link?! Bow down to me!"  
  
"Yeah right! Even if I can't win, there's no way I'm going to roll over!" Ganon only laughed louder.  
  
"You've just decided to risk your life for a man who isn't even going to turn good or thank you! Exposed yourself for the sake of a man who will go on the help me destroy Hyrule! FOOL!" Link looked at the ground. _Ganondorf is right. I am a fool...why am I doing this? But if I don't, Hyrule will be destroyed...thinking of that always gave me courage before... why do I feel so utterly spiritless now?   
_  
"Hahahahaa! Prepare to be defeated, Link!" Ganondorf rushed at Link, slashing at him with both swords. Link blocked the blow, backing up. Ganon raised the swords over his head and brought them crashing down, onto Link's rasied shield. The force of the attack brought him to his knees. Ganondorf grabbed his collar and pulled him up until they were face-to-face. "This is sad, Hero of Time. You're not even puttig up a good fight. I'm sure you're wondering what I'm goin to do that will be worse than killing you for now, aren't you? Well guess what..." Ganon lowered his voice to a whipser. "I've got your brother, and I'm going to kill him slowly. Arghhh!" Link kicked Ganon's syomach very hard, making him drop the Hylian and back up.  
  
"You've got Chain?! Release him while you still can, Ganondorf!" Link said, firing a light arrow at the king. Ganon was ready for it and dodged. Link than ran at Ganondorf, who jumped into the air and started throwing balls of evil magic at him. Link deflected them all with his sword, then performed the firery blast by jabbing his sword in Ganon's direction. Ganondorf had never seent his attack before, and simply raised his arm as the red magic flew at him. It tore into his arm, exploding and ripping at the same time. Ganondorf yelled and fell to the ground. Link rushed over and put the Master Sword to his throat. "Release. My. Brother."  
  
"Curses, I shouldn't have told you ahead of time. I gave you your fighting spirit back...but no matter. That only means you'll be more fun!" Ganondorf dissappeared and suddenly Link felt a blade on his own throat. Ganondorf had reappeared behind him.  
  
"Drop your sword, Link." Ganondorf commanded. But Link wasn't about to do that...the blade pressed harder, making Link gasp. "Drop it!" Link pointed his sword downward, as if he were about to drop it. Then remembering Ganondorf's reaction to touching the blade, Link touched Ganondorf's leg with it. The Evil King screamed and backed up, quickly forming a dark shield around himself to repel the sword's light magic. "I was beginning to wonder when you were going to use your sword's legendary power. I'm sure you've noticed by now that you can't summon all it's power." Link had noticed that, and raised an eyebrow. "My doing, of course. You'll find out what I did to you later."  
  
"You did something to me, you sick lunatic? I don't care, I'll beat you anyways!" Link said.  
  
"You can't kill me, Link. Don't you remember? All you can do is seal me in the Sacred Realm, and the Sages aren't around to do that." His black shield faded.  
  
"I couldn't kill you in your monster form. What's to stop your death if I cut your head off in this form?!" Link said. _Blast, he's figured out that I am mortal in this form...but if things get serious, I'll just transform. He's not a threat anymore, and when my weapon is complete and his spirit broken, I'll have the bloody revenge I've been dreaming of..._Ganondorf thought. Suddenly Raptyrant entered the room.   
  
"It's about time, you useless heap of bones! I summoned you minutes ago! Keep Link busy!" Ganondorf commanded.  
  
"What? You think you're getting away? Not a chance, Ganon!" Link shouted, rushing at him. Raptryant did an amazing flip and landed right in front of Link, blocking his blow with his metal shield. Ganondorf vanished. "Dangit, you rotten coward!"  
  
"You'll have to deal with me before you can go after my Master," Raptyrant hissed. Link thought his voice sounded familiar. Then he remembered the lizard. What other lizalfos could talk?  
  
"You...you're that talking lizalfos I met in the Fire Temple about a year ago, aren't you?" Link asked. "You didn't look like a dead raptor back then..."  
  
"Ah, so you remember me. The lizalfos that was smarter then the rest. The lizalfos that drove his blade into you and forced you to use your last red fairy, so that you almost died against Volvagia. The lizalfos you killed, brought back by Ganondorf!" Raptyrant hacked at Link, who blocked his blows easily. Dead or not, he still wasn't that much stronger than a normal lizalfos. Link cut at the raptor, who jumped backwards, then did a flip right over Link. As he landed he slashed at Link, who ducked and turned to face him. The raptor cut at him again and Link rolled backwards. Then he jumped to his feet and leapt at the dead monster, attacking with the jumpslash. Raptryant couldn't move fast enough, and was shattered into a scattering of bones by the attack. Then link heard him laugh as his bones re-formed. "Hahahaha! You cannot defeat an undead beast with an attack like that, Hero of Fools! You'll battle me for eternity because you don't know how to beat me!"  
  
"Dream on, Bones." Link said, getting out his bow and firing a light arrow at the Raptors head.   
  
"You'll never win, hhahahaha-" The arrow shattered the skull, destroying the monster permanently. Just when Link was about to run out of there and look for Ganondorf, he reappeared. And he had Chain.

_ I've got to hurry_, Sheik thought, dashing down the hall as fast as she could. She had just arrived back in front of the fortress where her warp point had been. Once inside the fortress, she tried to contact Link. _Please don't let me be too late...please don't let Ganondorf kill anyone..._

Link stared in horror. Chain was bloody and weak already, because Ganondorf had obviously beat him up earlier. Link's universe was falling apart. His worst nightmares coming to pass before his eyes. He couldn't remember the happiness of the days before Ganondorf had returned. He could hardly remember what it had felt like to wrestle and have fun, to help rebuild the potions shop and chat with his friends...now he was in the blackest place imaginable, and his worse nemesis had his last surviving kin in his murdering clutches. There was no hope. Link was going to lose his last family member. Ganondorf laughed.  
  
"Now what, Link? You're hopeless. You're afraid. Why don't you beg for your brother's life?" Link gritted his teeth in rage. Ganondrof held Chain by his neck loosely, his other arm holding his chest so he couldn't escape. Chain looked at Link.   
  
"Link, I'm so sorry. I can't beat him, even with my new powers...and now he's using me against you..." A tear rolled down his cheek and he shook.  
  
"Well, isn't this touching? Don't times like this make you wish you were the bad guy, Link?!" The King of Evil asked.  
  
"Don't give in, Link! He's going to kill me anyways, but don't you give up! You're the only one who can save Hyrule! Don't beg for my life to make this creep happy - ugh! Let..go...of me..." Chian gasped, pulling at Ganon's hand on his neck that had gotten a lot tighter.  
  
"Shut up, you annoying brat. Maybe I'll just finish you now. I could break your neck so easily..." He growled.  
  
"NO! DON'T KILL HIM, GANON!" Link screamed. He was enraged and terrified. What action could he take?! _I'm so helpless! Dangit, this evil monster is going to kill Chain and there's nothing I can do! Godesses, help me!_ Ganondorf laughed. Link _hated_ his laugh.   
  
"Beg, Link! Like a dog!" He commanded. _I hate you, Ganondorf_. Link thought, falling to his knees. _I hate your guts..._  
  
"Please...don't kill him..." His voice shook with anger, which Ganondorf misinterpreted as weakness.  
  
"HAHAHHAA! I didn't think anything would be more enjoyable than giving you physical pain, but this is great!" Link clenched his fist so hard it shook and bled. He was so extremely enraged he didn't notice Ganondorf's favorite demondragon, the large talking one called Darenkil, come in through the entrance that led outside to the storming weather. "Well Link, you've given me so much enjoyment perhaps I'll show a little mercy to your brother." Link looked up. His brother wasn't going to die? His last family member would be spared? It was too good to be true. And it wasn't true. "I'll give him a quick death!" Time practically froze and Link watched in terror as Ganondorf tossed Chain to the demondragon. It opened its wicked maw and swallowed Chain without even chewing. Ganondorf smiled. "Not a bad taste, eh, Darenkil?"  
  
"NO! I...I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU, GANONDORF!!!" Link took out his bow and shot a light arrow at the demondragon's neck. The arrow plunged so far into the beast's neck that only the feathers on the end of the shaft were showing. Roaring in pain, it collapsed. Ganondorf flew to it's neck and pulled the arrow out, quickly healing the wound with dark healing magic. Link ran at him in a blind rage, and Ganondorf barely turned in time to prevent himself from getting impaled on the Master Sword. Ganondorf kicked Link's face, making him stumble backwards. As Link stumbled his arms were spread, and Ganondorf slashed at both of his wrists with his double swords. Link hardly noticed the deep gashes given to him, attacking Ganondorf again. Ganon had to backflip and fly into the air to avoid getting cut to pieces, and as it was he got a few deep, painful slashes on his chest before he could escape. Ganondorf threw some black lightening at Link, and Link wasn't calm enough to have proper timing and deflect it.   
  
"Eaughhh!" Link screamed as the lightening hit him full force, sending him flying backwards to hit the ground jarringly hard. Link coughed once and sat up, holding his burnt chest. _Link, it's me, Zelda. Where are you?_ Zelda was communicating with him telepathically. _I'm in the back,_ Link managed to think back, through the fire enveloping his mind. He staggered to his feet and was about to rush at Ganondorf again, but discovered him escaping on his cursed dragon. Link fired arrows at them and ran after, but knew he had no chance of catching a flying dragon. Darenkil dodged his arrows and was gone in mere seconds. Link stopped, putting his hands on his knees and beathing raggedly._ Chain...Chain!_ Link couldn't think of words to describe his rage. Couldn't think of a name bad enough to describe Ganondorf. Link then became aware of how weak he felt. He looked at his wrists and saw that Ganondorf had cut both his arteries. They were pouring his life's fluid all over the stone floor, and Link grabbed his right wrist with his left hand in an attempt to stem the flow of blood. There was no point. He was losing it too fast. It didn't matter anyways. Nothing did. His brother was dead. Link fell to his knees and punched the ground so hard it made his fist bleed; which sent a large network of cracks spreading through the stone, centered around the hole he had made. _Maybe it's best this way,_ Link thought, his eyes squeezed painfully shut. His head felt light, his whole body weak. His life was seeping away._ I'll join Chain, wherever he is. Yeah, that doesn't sound so bad..._Link pulled his dagger out of his boot and looked at it for a moment. He was dying anyways, why not make it a little faster? He took a few long, shuddering breaths. Slowly, he raised the blade to his own throat, ready to end his miserable existance, his servitude to the dieties which at times seemed to hate his guts...A soft sound drifted through the chaos in his mind.  
  
"Link, what are you doing? Please don't!!" It was Zelda's voice. Zelda's heavenly, melodic voice. Link dropped the dagger. His head felt like it was drifting and his vision blurred as he looked at the arriving Princess. He fell into unconsciousness.

-whoo, angsty! I know what your gonna say, Link doesn't seem the type for suicide, but he figured he was going to die anyways and his brother was dead and wasn't thinking about anything else. You wouldn't think very clearly either if you were dying and your last family member just got killed by your nemesis! Anyways...will Hyrule castle be prepared for Ganondorf's attack with his demondragons? Will Link ever get his fighting spirit back? You'll find out in the next chapter so yeah...see ya next time...-Talonclawfange


	4. The Shield of Life 7,8,9

hm, sorry about the format, I don't know why it's doing that...well, shouldn't be too distracting. btw thanks to all you reviewers, you make my day and you make writing this stuff worth it! Thanks a bunch!

**Section 7 **

**A Slight Hope**  
  
Link awoke with a splitting headache. As quickly as Sheik had healed him when she found him, he had still lost a lot of blood and would have to spend a day recovering unless Sahoriel could help. Since she was tending to her dragons first, Zelda hadn't bothered her yet.  
"Link, you're awake!" Zelda jumped up from where she'd been sitting by his bed and ran over to him. "How do you feel?" Link almost laughed.  
"How do I feel? Defeated. Destroyed. In pain. Full of hate. I hate hating. Hating hatred only make my head hurt worse!" He sat up and folded him arms around his legs, burying his face in them. "I can't take this anymore...why do I have to be the stupid hero? Becasue of my misplaced existance, Chain is dead. My whole family. Gone from this world." His right fist slammed into the bed beside him. "I HATE BEING THE HERO OF TIME!" His voice cracked. Zelda couldn't see his face, but was sure he was crying. It was the first time she'd ever heard of him crying since the Deku Tree's death. It was completely heart-wrenching. She got on the bed and sat next to Link, putting an arm around him and leaning on him. "It wasn't your existance...that caused his death..." Zelda said quietly. She couldn't resist it. She was crying now, too. Chain had been such a happy, funny friend...she couldn't believe he was gone, his short life extinguished in an instant.  
"Yes it is! If we were just normal people, born in a normal time...if those rotten godesses hadn't chosen me to be their failure of a hero...Think about it, Zelda. We can't seal Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm without all seven Sages. Now one is...dead, and there's no way we can get another one before Ganondorf attacks with an army of demondragons. Hyrule's supposed to be saved by a hero now, right? Someone to step up and save them all from an otherwise unavoidable destruction?" Link asked bittery. "Well all they have is a zero! Ganondorf is stronger now, and I can't beat him! I couldn't even save my brother's life. I am weak, and everyone Hyrule will be destroyed because I let them down."  
"Link, stop it!" Zelda cried, now openly sobbing. "You're not weak! You can still beat him him!" Link laughed, his shaky voice muffled by his arms.  
"He can kill me so easily. I'm not any different from a normal Hylian to him now. I'm not invincible, and I can't win against that man. He's beaten me three times now!" Link said hoplessly. Zelda hugged him tightly.  
"You are not a normal Hylian, Link. You were chosen to do this. Do you think the dieties would choose you if you were incapable? They are ruled by a higher wisdom than that, a diety that knows all. They picked you becasue you can do it, Link." She kissed his cheek, and he half looked up at her with his wet eyes. "You...you really think I can beat him, Zelda? But I lost so many times..." He said.  
"Think about this, Link. The first time he got you cheaply from behind with a spell. The second time you were already weakened by his horse and other battles. The third time he had someone you love in his grip, plus he disheartened you with evil talk and the fact that he'd beaten you before. All you need to do is be in good health the next time you meet him, and don't pay any attention to what he says to you. I believe you can defeat him, Link. I think fate chose you for that purpose." Link looked at the covers in front of him. What if Zelda was right? Ganondorf had used pretty cheap tactics thus far. If Link could only get a fair shot at him, maybe it would be different. There was always a slight hope, a slight chance. Zelda noticed Link was all tensed up and rubbed his neck a bit. He calmed down. "You are truly wise, Princess." Link said. "But the fact that perhaps I can beat Ganondorf doesn't change the fact...that the monster killed my brother...and he may try to kill others to hurt me..." He buried his face in his arms again. "What if he..kills you too, Zelda?" Just then Taig and Cyphas walked into the room, with the Sages. Normally Link would be embarassed about crying, but the death of Chian hurt so much he didn't care. He couldn't stop it, so why be ashamed? "Aw buddy, cheer up." Taig said, even though his eyes were getting watery as well. Everyone had been told about Chain. "He's...in a better place," Taig said, raising a scaley and hardly soft paw to rub Link's back. "I don't think that's helping," Cyphas said. Her and the rest had sober, grim looks on their faces. Ganondorf would not go unpunished for killing the Sage of Light. Link looked up at all of them.  
"I'm sorry...I failed you all, Ganondorf beat me again...I still think my chances of defeating him the next time we meet are slim to none..." He said dejectedly. "Link, do not speak of such nonsense." Impa said sternly. She was taking a gamble in taking this approach with Link, she might just hurt his feelings more, but then again it might make him learn something. "It is purely silly to think you can't beat Ganondorf. You are the Hero of Time, and you wield the one blade that was made to destroy evil, the Sword of Evil's Bane! I'd say his chances of beating you are slim to none, so don't think such rediculous things! So what if he beat you a few times. You are still alive, and so are we! Even if we don't have a seventh Sage, we can defeat Ganondorf and hold him captive until a new Sage arises." Link hadn't thought of that.  
"Yes, what are you talking about, brother? You are as strong as a goron, you can defeat that two-timing dessert pansy, no PROBLEM!" Darunia declared.  
"The spirit of the forest and goodness is in you, Link. You can't lose to evil with that." Saria said.  
"Ganondorf is really a sad man," Nabooru commented. "He isn't as tough as he looks. He just intimidates his foes and tried to dishearten them with poisonous talk and subtle dispiriting spells. All you need is courage, and you've plenty of that!"  
"My former future husband can't be defeated by and ugly old man calling himself King!" Ruto said. "I've never seen you so down, Link." Impa pointed out, "Your lack of belief in your own abilities has been holding you back in your fights with Ganondorf. Remember, you have the Triforce of Courage! It's as strong if not stronger than the Triforce of Power." "There's no way that old hack is gonna beat you again with us behind ya!" Taig said loudly.  
"You may be a hopeless moron, but even you are smarter than Ganondorf," Cyphas said, grinning crookedly with her pointy teeth showing. This made Link actually smile, almost laugh. He looked around at all thier confident, believing, loving faces. They really believed in him. They weren't mad or dissappointed because he didn't beat Ganondorf. They were only encouraging him to dust himself off and try again. _What wonderful people_, He thought. _I may have lost all my blood family, but I still have them. They are my family_. "You're all so nice to me," Link said, half laughing, half crying and half hiding his face. "What would I do without you all?"  
"You'd be toast, that's what!" Taig said his familiar line. Grinning, everyone who could fit climbed on the bed and all tried to hug Link at once. He let out a yelp and rolled backward to avoid the mass of bodies, and rolled right off his bed onto the floor. He raised himself to his knees and grinned at them, rubbing the back of his head. Everyone was so happy to see him smile it only made them smile more, which made him smile more. Link had never felt more loved. His friends had healed his spirit.  
  
That night there was a giant feast. Not to celebrate, but to relax. Many had been wounded or killed that day (the total number of dead was over 500. It would have been twice that if the calwot protection spell hadn't still been in effect. The spell was so strong that it lasted for days). At the feast Zelda announced tearfully that a traditional, week-long burial ceremony would take place after the war for the fallen warriors and King (she didn't need to say 'if we win and survive the war', that was a given). Then she told Hyrule that Ganondorf would soon attack with his demondragons and gave an incredibly moral-heightening speech. Link had always said she'd make a great ruler, and she proved that as every man and beast left the speech with new courage. Many had fallen, but the war wasn't over yet, and there was still hope! So everyone ate and gathered their strength for the battle ahead. Goodness knew they needed it. Despite the overall grimness of war, many found it possible to be happy, and Link grealty admired their optomism. Their happiness even made him a little happy. Not only that, but the company of Zelda cheered him up since she had come to sit with him against the courtyard wall after her speech. His head didn't even hurt anymore because Sahoriel had used her advanced magic on him.  
"So, how is Malon holding up?" Zelda asked.  
"I spent the afternoon with her to cheer her up, but she's still really depressed about Chain. The cute little animals she's taking care of make sure she isn't too unhappy or lonely, though." Link said. He was referring to the baby unicorn, lavakatt, keaton and mokko that Malon was happily caring for. She had already decided that if her ranch was ever rebuilt she would keep the animals in a special barn so thier rough-housing wouldn't disturb the non-magical animals.  
"This is all so terrible," Zelda said, thinking of both her dead father and Chain. Ganondorf was causing so much pain. There was no way they could let him continue. But she didn't want to talk about dismal subjects, as unavoidable as they were. She wanted to enjoy the time she had together with Link before the bloodshed began anew. "But I think we'll find a way to pull through, Link. Hyrule has seen country-splitting wars before and survived. We are a strong country, now even stronger with all the friends we've made. Almost all our allies are thanks to you, Link." Zelda said, slipping her arm around him in what she thought was a clandestine movement. Link blushed slightly. "Well, I'm just glad I could do some good, Princess. I think we can beat Ganondorf if we all work together, and I happen to know that you're a better strategist than anybody I've met. I'm sure you've got the perfect strategies to use all the race's abilities to help eachother." Zelda nodded.  
"Nobody's perfect, but I think the strategies I have in mind will work. Now that we know what Ganondorf has in store, we can prepare for it. That gives us an advantage." She said, looking up at the sky. It was still mostly cloudy (like usual) but wasn't raining, and the moon began to peek out into a small hole in the cloud cover. Link was looking at it, too. "Perhaps in the best case senario we can do what my father wanted and have enough forces left to seige Ganondorf's castle. But enough of that subject...where's Cyphas and Raykel?"  
"Probably kissing in a tree," Link said, the words of his brother tearing at his heart. "But let me show you something that's a lot more fun than kissing in a tree," Link said, His arm snaking around to Zelda's other side. "Tickling on the ground!" Zelda let out a girly shriek as Link tickled her, and she rolled around on the ground for a few minutes before finally twisting out of his reach.  
"Now you'll get it," Zelda said, leaping behind Link and grabbing his head, giving him a royal noogie. He simply let her do it for a moment because it didn't hurt, but then she really dug her knuckles in.  
"Ow, hey!" Link said, grabbing her arms and turning around. When the two of them retired to thier rooms later that night they were quite exhausted from tickling and giving noogies to eachother. Both of them rested peacefully, not plagued by evil dreams like normal. They were properly rested when the morrow came, and ready to prepare for the battle of their lives.

**Section 8 **

**The Plan and the Past**  
  
The dawn was bright and beautiful because there was a space between the horizon and the clouds that permitted the sun's warmth to be seen. Link and many others were watching it as everyone in the Hyrulian military was slowly waking. Link watched it from the balcony outside his window, accompanied by Zelda.  
"It felt strange to wake up this morning and not look over to the other bed and see Chain sleeping in it..." Link muttered. He tried to avoid the thought of his brother, because every time he thought about him it hurt so much he almost broke down and punched something or cried. "Yes...and it is very strange to wake up knowing well over 2,000 creatures are depending on me for leadership because my Father is gone..." Zelda sighed unhappily. Being a leader wasn't really going to be so bad, but she already missed her Father's smile and gentle words. No matter what issues of the Kingdom had pressed him, he had always found time to spend with Zelda at least once a day when she was a child. Sometimes he had been stern and even pigheaded, but he had never yelled at her in anger or said anything heartbreaking. He had been a good Father. Zelda brushed away a tear irritably. Link put his arm around her waist and the two of them leaned on the railng, staring at the bright, colorful sunrise. "Everything will be okay...you know, I bet your Father is very proud of you for the leadership you've shown so far." Link said. "I know I am." Zelda smiled and looked away.  
"Thank you," She said simply.  
"Now all we need to do...when this is over, of course...is to find a Prince that deserves you and will be an equally good leader." Zelda looked into his blue eyes with an expression on her face he did not recognize.  
"A Prince...? But Link..." "**Bombs away**!!!" The two Hylians were surprised to hear a voice above them and looked up. Taig was swooping at them! They scrambled out of the way just in time to dodge his sloppy landing. "**Aw rats, I still have to work on that**," The young dragon said. "**The Great Taig will someday be great at landing, I promise that! So, how are you two? Everybody's awake and eating breakfast now**."  
"Taig, your voice..." Link said, a look of confusion on his face. Taig grinned widely.  
"**My coming-of-age birthday is in one week, and my mature voice came in early! Isn't that GREAT**?" Link and Zelda had to plug their ears. "Yes, that's wonderful," Link said, "But could you not scream in our ears, please?" Taig smiled sheepishly.  
"Hey Taig, want to put your new voice to good use? Will you fly around and tell everyone to meet in the courtyard in fourty minutes?" Zelda asked.  
"**SURE**!" Taig shouted, backflipping off the balcony and flying over the castle. Link shook his head and smiled.  
"That dragon...gotta love his big head, no?" They watched Taig go and suddenly they saw Faraws come from out of nowhere, zoom right over Taig while licking his cheek and head, then laugh and fly away. Taig laughed at the challenge and followed her, and Link and Zelda could only hope he wouldn't forget what he just said he'd do. "Let's go get some breakfast." Link said quickly, and went back inside. Zelda stared after him for a moment, then followed.  
  
Taig actually did as he was asked, and in fourty minutes everyone hd eaten and all creatures in the military (but not the citizens, they were still safe underground) were assembled in the courtyard. The Hylians, zoras, gorons and some flying creatures were standing/sitting on the grass, and all the flying creatures that couldn't fit there were perched on the battlements and towers. It was packed, but everyone was there. Zelda sttod on the wall above the drawbridge, which was slightly higher than the rest. Because she knew she couldn't project her voice far enough for all to hear, she used a spell which would allow her words to be audiable to all. "Good morning, Hyrule." Was the first thing she said. It was still a decently pretty morning, even though by this time the sun had slipped behind the clouds and was no longer visible. "I thank you all for taking the time to listen to me, and I also desire to say that I am proud to be leading such a wonderful gathering of races. You are all so wise and great that instead of arguing and rolling over like Ganondorf expected you to, you fought on when the King died. I know with teamwork like that, we are bound to win. Now I have a plan, and it may soud strange at first, but I believe it is the best way to combine our powers against the oncoming attack. You all know Ganondorf is attacking with demondragons, and there will be very few ground forces because we destroyed most of them. It is this fact that drives me to believe we no longer need ground forces. Don't worry, I'm not firing you! What I am suggesting is that the ground forced ride apon the air forces and combine thier might!" Both air forces and ground forces looked surprised at this. Sahoriel grimaced. "**Princess, dragons are not beast of burden, and we do not bear humans no matter what the circumstances! I am sorry to contradict you, but I cannot relinquish the pride of my race.**"  
"I expected that this would be your reaction, and that is why the ground forces will be riding on griffons, if that is alright with you, Cazan and Kozin." The leaders of the sea griffons and mountain griffons looked at eachother. They were proud races as well, but knew their back were perfectly shaped to bear humans, and for a good cause, carrying walking creatures was a measure they were willing to take. "We agree to this, Princess Zelda." Cazan said. "But only griffons larger than horses should bear men, because the smaller ones will tire." Zelda nodded.  
"And are there enough griffons larger than horses to bear all 290 ground forces?" Zelda inquired. The griffons captains looked around at thier races. There were only 120 sea griffons and 130 mountain griffons, and betweent he two of them, there were only 220 griffons larger than horses. "It seems we've encountered a problem...I may allow the Royal Guard to stay on the ground and exterminate the rest of the demons, but there's only 50 of them, and when the demons are dead, they and the other 20 men will need to fly..." "**Come on, mom**!" Taig yelled up at his mother from her side where he had been sitting. "**You said yourself that these are the best humans you've ever met. It won't be so bad to bear them if it means saving all our hides**!" Sahorield was very proud and so was Cirokaal, but they listened to their son's idea and considered it. "**Well, I suppose just this once will not hurt**," Cirokaal said. "**If it means saving Hyrule...but as we have only met human, we will only bear humans. No offense to you zoras and gorons, but you'll have to ride griffons. Nothing personal, but we have never met you**." Darunia and Ruto (her Father was too fat to move from zora's domain, so she had taken over) looked slightly indignant. Cazan and Kozin looked slightly indignant that the zoras and gorons were insulted that they would have to ride them!  
"Now, now don't let that wonderful unity and peace we've been having slip away!" Zelda said quickly. "If we war amoing eachother and let our alliance grow weak, we'll never win!"  
"Yes, I suppose we can't expect the dragons to bear us if we've never met. They must be less trusting than the noble griffons." Darunia said. "And I don't mean that in a bad way." Ruto nodded.  
"We're going to have to get along, so let the dragons be by themselves if they want to. They just wont have as much protection as the griffons will." The zora Princess pointed out. Sahoriel raised and eyebrow and was about to say that her dragons didn't need protection, but Link spoke up.  
"Come on, guys! The zoras and gorons will ride griffons and a few hylians will ride dragons. Is there anything wrong with this? Let's just agree so that we aren't out here all morning!" Not everyone could hear him because he didn't have Zelda's spell, but the leaders heard him and reluctantly shut their mouths.  
"Thank you," Zelda said. "Now then, if a griffons or dragon is carrying somebody, try to stay with that person, even if you're grounded or get tired and have to rest. It will be kinda like a buddy system. If your partner dies...then find another one. I don't want anybody by themselves, because the demondragons will be a lot easier to defeat if we gang up on them. I thought about how a lot of dragons and griffons wont have buddies, so I came up with something. Since there's about five times more calwots than there are dragons, I want calwots to break into groups of five and then team up with a drgaon that isn't carrying anybody. This team of calwots and a dragon must stay together, and I know if they do they'll have no problem beating a demondragon. If I've calculated correctly there should be about 320 dragon-calwot teams and 290 ground force-air force teams. Ganondorf will no doubt have thousands of dragons, so I expect each team to kill as many lone demondragons as they can before ganging up on the big ones. If we kill the small ones first and attack the big ones with many teams, there's no way we can lose! Does everybody agree to this?" A great cheer of agreement arose from everyone. "Okay, then. The only dragon and/or griffons who need not be in teams are the leaders. Speaking of which, Sahoriel, Cirokaal, Cazan and Kozin, I will need your help with something in Hyrule field. I will need the three biggest non-royal dragons as well. The rest of you form teams, and calwots, make sure a death-protection spell is on everyone. Have lunch whenever you want, and everyone meet back here at sunset." Zelda removed her spell, turned to Sheik, and jumped down onto Hyrule Field. Link and Impa followed.  
"So what are we doing in Hyrule Field, Zelda?" Link asked he heard galloping and barely had time to brace himself before Epona tackled him and began to lick his face. "Ack, hey, that's really wet! Stop it, heheheheh." He had to push her soft nose away before she'd stop licking him. "I see you've had plenty of rest, Epona. I'd love to ride you in this coming battle, but it'll be an aerial battle, girl." His horse was very smart, but she didn't seem to understand that.  
"We're going to dig some very large holes," Sheik said. Link got to his feet, with a curious look on his face. "You'll find out why later," She said with a grin.  
After half an hour Link finally got Epona to understand he couldn't ride her the whole battle, but they reached a compromise. In exchange fer her to stop biting him, he'd ride her until all the ground demond had been killed, and then get on his griffon. Zelda said that she and Impa would be riding Cazan and Link would ride Kozin. After Epona left to horse around in the stables with Dark Sky, Zelda had Sahoriel, Cirokaal, Cazan, Kozin, and the five biggest dragons help her dig enormous holes. It took most of the day to make the holes as deep as Zelda wanted them, and after that they had lunch and helped people pair up that didn't have a team yet. By the end of the day everyone knew what team they were in and everyone had a death-resistant spell on them. At sunset, they all met in the courtyard as Zelda had ordered.  
"This is incredible!" Was the first thing the Princess said. "I was almost certain there would be problems in picking teams, but you're all so cooperative it astounds me! This is unheard of! This must surely be the strongest Hyrule has ever been in it's history. I know you're all hungry so I won't talk too long and we'll eat dinner after this, but I have a great strategy I need to explain..."  
  
Later that night when everyone had eaten dinner and was preparing to retire early and get extra rest, Link was approached by Sahoriel. He had been on the corner of the battlements and the huge dragon came down from her fortress and hovered over him.  
"**Excuse me Link, will you come with me? I have prepared something that I wanted to show you. I think you will like it**." Link looked mildly surprised (even though it was hard to look anything while he clung to the wall to prevent getting blown over by the wind from her wings), and he stepped into her enourmous hand as she held it out to him. She then flew up to her Flying Fortress and enterred. She had closed her hand over him so he wouldn't get blown around, but it still wasn't a gentle ride (how could it be when he was in a room-sized hand of a dragon bigger than a castle). As she opened her hand and set him on the ground he looked fine for a moment, then just fell over.  
"Whoa, I'm dizzy..." He said, getting up. This caused Sahoriel to laugh, and her laugh caused Link to blow across the floor like a dead leaf. "Whaaaaah!"  
"**Terribly sorry, Link. I'll try to be more gentle. Now let me put you on my shoulder so you wont have to run to keep up with me**." The Queen walked over to Link and put him on her shoulder. "**This isn't a ride, understand! But it will take forever to get there if we walk your speed**." Sahoriel walked through the many black, branching halls of the fortress for a few minutes, taking so many turns Link quickly lost count. Eventually they came to a large room with red caprpet and curtains, and two life-sized statues of red dragons. Link recognized it to be the room he had fought the Dragonlord in. It had changed a bit, for example, instead of the human-sized throne and steps that the dragons had once stood by, there was now an enormous pile of gold and calwot-feather matresses. In the corner was the Dragon Portal, the huge portal the Dragonlord had once used to summon dragons to do his bidding. It was at least 300 feet tall and circle shaped, and the middle shimmered and waved like water. Sahoriel walked over to it and set Link down in front of it, then she sat down. "**I'm sure you must recognize this portal Link, it is the Dragon Portal. But it is not only a portal, it is also a magical artifact that allows dragons with the correct magic to see visions of the past. I have meditates for hours by this portal, trying to pull up dreams and visions of a certain two people. I do not mean to pry, Link, but I have seen your mind and your desires. One of the dearest things to you is your family...even if they are all dead. When your borther died you thought about them even more. I tried to pull up images of your brother, but for some reason it did not work. Perhaps he is not far enough in the past. What I succeeded in doing was finding visions of your parents**." Link's eyes widened in surprise.  
"M-my parents...you saw them?" He asked in wonder.  
"**Yes, I have seen them. I also saw in your head that you have searched around and talked to many Hylians, but it seems that anyone who knew your parents is either dead or so senile they can't remember much. I thought you might appreciate seeing them yourself in this portal. You can't actually interact with them, only watch. And I only have images from about seventeen years back, just before they died**." With that, the portal lit up with a bright light, and all the torces that had been lighting the room went out. When the bright light in the center of the portal faded, Link saw a raging battlefield. Chaos reigned as men hacked at eachother. It was the Great War of Hyrule, the one that had been stopped when King Hyrule unified the kingdom. The vision zoomed in, focusing on one soldier. This man looked somewhat like Link, only he was taller and his hair was longer and brighter, and his eyes were a light shade of green. He was fighting very strongly, defeating his foes without too much difficulty. In the background Link saw something else, a woman who was also fighting. She had long, light brown hair and startling blue eyes. On her back was a baby carrier with a newborn in it, and in her left arm was a small child. With her right arm she used a sword to fight off any enemies who got too close despite her husband's efforts. But there were so many enemies. It was obvious that the two would not escape. As the vision continued, Sahoriel explained some things she had discovered in her meditation. Link's father had been a Royal Guard for the previous King. His name was Lee, and he had been on the brink of being promoted to a personal bodyguard for the King when the war started. His wife, Kirina, had also wanted to be a soldier and bothered the King about it until he finally passed a law so that women could be soldiers, too. She had only had two weeks of training when the war started, and her and Lee, along with baby Link and Chain had been forced to flee Castletown when it was invaded. Lee had succeeded in defending his King, but he, his wife and his troop had been cut off from the main forces. The story only got worse from there...  
  
"Link, there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Zelda said irritably, hands on hips. They had met in the hall when link was on the way to his room. Everyone else was already asleep. Link quickly apologized.  
"I'm sorry, Zelda. Sahoriel was showing me something and I didn't tell you where I was going to be. Forgive me?"  
"Yes, of course. I wasn't worried, I just wondered where you were. I've set magical watches next to Gerudo's Fortress and Ganondorf's small castle in Hyrule Field. As soon as demondragons start to come, everybody will be woken and get to their places. We need plantly of rest, so what was Sahoriel showing you so late?" Link was silent for a moment.  
"The past," He said simply. He didn't want to talk about it, because it was a subject very close to his heart. He finally knew who his parents were. He had to dwell on what he had learned and accept it before he could share it. Zelda gave him a wierd look but left it at that, figuring he'd tell her more if he wanted to.  
"Link, I forgot to tell you earlier...I had another prophetic dream." Zelda said, a look of intense sadness covering her features.  
"I died again, didn't I? This is getting pretty repetative." Link said, frowning. "Well, I'm not surprised. You aren't the only one having bad dreams, you know. I've been having rather evil dreams since the day before Cosha died." An irritated look replaced the sorrow on Zelda's face. "Sorry I didn't tell you," Link said quickly. "I thought they were only common nightmares."  
"Well, this recent dream, I'm sad to say, was worse than the rest." Zelda said. "First I saw somethig wierd...a red falcon killed a wounded balck falcon, and instead of a corpse, a white flower was all that remained of it." Link looked as confused as Zelda felt. "Then...well, you fought Ganondorf and lost. Badly. He cut you in half. And at the end of this dream...I saw no light like I've been seeing in the previous ones." For some reason, this information made Link's blood run cold. What if the light at the end of each dream had meant he lived? What if the absence of such meant he would not? Hyrule would be in great danger.  
"Link..." Link was brough out of his thoughts by Zelda's voice, which had taken on a new tone. "Remember when you said we needed to find me a Prince? Well, I just wanted to say..." She hesitated. Should she really tell him what she felt? After all, if he liked her that way why would he suggest finding her a Prince? Showing her true feelings might just confuse him more or make him laugh. He obviously thought only Princes were fit for Princesses...she couldn't bring herself to say it. "Nevermind... good night, Link." Link walked up close to her and put a hand on her shoulder. He had a very strange expression on his face. What was that expression? He looked almost sorrowful, regretting...yet as his deep blue eyes looked into hers she could tell there was something else he was feeling, too. They stared at eachother for a moment.  
"Good night, Princess Zelda." Link said finally, and went into his room.  
  
**Section 9 **

**The Beginning of the End. Ganondorf's Weapon**  
  
A wicked grin was spread across the King of Evil's face as he sat on the back of his personal favorite demondragon, Darenkil. He was leading his greatest army yet, soaring high over Hyrule field. He and his army were above the clouds, so Hyrule Castle couldn't see him coming. Not only was this a powerful force that would probably crush Hyrule if it was in high spirits, but Ganondorf thought he had another advantage as well. King Daphnes was dead. The Princess and the country would be depressed about his death. The Hero of Time, if he wasn't dead and Ganondorf suspected he wasn't, would be completely devestated by his brother's death. Hyrule was not likely to put up much of a fight against his 1,200 demondragons. Ganon grinned, he was greatly enjoying his new powers. The power to summon demons and demondragons from their demension and have them serve him...as well as greater dark magic power than he had ever commanded. And nobody knew how he got it except himself and the one who helped him get it.  
"We are nearing Hyrule castle!" Ganondorf shouted to his dragons and two surviving generals, Llance and Feelock. He wasn't too dissappointed about his other four generals dying because they had served their purpose... "Fly low but don't touch the tops of the clouds!" Ganondorf knew they were drawing nearer because in front of his army, still far away but getting closer, was the huge black cloud that contained the dragon's Flying Fortress. He was not foolish enough to attack that, it was indestructable, his army was flying high so they could swoop down and ambush the castle. He would have to do it soon too, because the sun was beginning to hurt his darkness-loving dragons. It had just begun to rise above the clouds.  
"We are two thousand feet from Hyrule castle," Feelock said. "Very well then. Fall beneath the clouds! Attack Hyrule castle, and show no mercy!" As if Ganondorf had to tell them that. demondragons were killers through and through. The massive flying formation dived beneath the clouds, expecting to find a completely unprepared Hyrule castle. Instead, they found an empty one. "What in the name of darkness...?" Ganondorf looked down at the castle in amazement. There wasn't a single living person to be seen. He could see that they were all gone as Ganondorf's army flew over the castle. "Hhahahahaa! The foolish cowards must have realized they couldn't win and ran for it! How pathetic!"  
"Wrong, King of Evil!" Ganondorf heard a loud shout and looked down. There was one lone person on the ground. It was Link, mouted on Epona. Then, the ground erupted. Hyrule Field's blackened surface had seemed smooth and unbroken, but it became obvious to Ganondorf that there were large holes in it as hundreds of dragons, griffons with riders, and calwots burst out of it, attacking the strategically weak underside of his army. "Curses! Kill them, dragons! If that's all the soldiers they've got, they still wont be a challenge!"  
"Wrong again, King of Evil!" Ganondorf looked up this time. He saw Zelda riding on Cazan, firing spells at his drgaons. All kind of flying forced were swooping down from the Flying Fortress cloud, attacking the strategically weak top of his army. It was a massive ambush that begun tearing into the demondragons from both sides. Ganondorf growled in frustration. "Drop your monsters!" Ganodorf shouted to his dragons. Many of them had been carrying surviving demons and monsters, and they now dropped them down to the ground. Ganondorf hoped they would all attack Link (he had taught them to recognize him in his old and new clothes by now) but couldn't sit around and watch. Epona neighed happily as she ran through Ganondorf's last remaining ground forces (dropped only moments before by the demondragons). As she galloped through them, her rider easily dispatched all that attacked him. He was used to thier tactics by now, and they weren't too hard to kill. The Royal Guards (along with Cyphas, of course) were anihilating the ugly beasts, It wouldn't be long before they could join the melee in the sky. But some demondragons were on the ground as well, ordered to kill the Royal Guard by Ganondorf. Link met one such dragon. It hissed and bit at him like a snake, but Link simply held up his shield and the dragon bumped its nose on it.  
"Come on, if one of you can talk, then surely the rest of you must at least be smarter than common animals..." Link said, making the dragon mad. As it struck at him again, Link simply stabbed the Master Sword through the top jaw of it's gaping mouth. Roaring in pain, it yanked itself off the sword and backed away, holding its jaw. Then a demon attacked Link from behind, tearing into his back. Link yelled and reached back, but the quick little thing eveaded his grasp. It's snake-felinish head darted around over Link's shoulder, and it was about to bite his neck when two arrows hit it from behind, killing it. Link twisted in his saddle to look back, and saw Raykel and Cyphas holding thier bows, grinning. "Nice shot! Thanks, guys." Link said. They nodded and ran off to kill some other demons. While Link was still twisted another demon jumped at his front and he turned back around just in time for it to slam into his chest, biting and clawing. Link was almost thrown off his horse, but managed to kill the thing before it could do more damage. He looked down irritably at his mostly shredded shirt, torn up in both the front and back. It was barely hanging on, and Link wasn't about to go gallivanting around the battlefield shirtless, so he instantly changed back to his old clothes (It's not like he undressed! He changes instantly with magic). Zelda might not be happy, but the monsters recognized him anyways and he missed wearing his hat.  
Link looked around and observed that pretty much all of the ground demons had been killed. Raykel whistled at the air forces, and the ones that were supposed to pick up the Royal Guard and Link came swooping down as quickly as possible, snatching the humans off the ground, placing them on thier backs, and rejoining the fray. Link bid farewell to Epona as Kozin came down and picked him up. In a rushing of wind he was in the sky, firing arrows at demondragons while Kozin fired ice spells. As Link looked around, he thought he would see Hyrule winning, but things actually weren't going so good. Despite Zelda's order to stay together, some teams had been sepparated, their members getting picked off by the evil dragons. The dragons proved to be more dangerous than expected, with their lightening quickness in the sky and dark fire. Some of them even breathed dark lightening or were smart enough to use spells. Hyrule was losing slowly, but still losing. Link heard some yelling that actually sounded happy above him and looked up in confusion. Feelock, who was still riding on a demondragon, had been met by Tarisla in the sky. Nobody knew much about Tarisla, but it was obvious that she was in love with Feelock as the two embraced. Now that he'd seen Tarisla was free and safe, Feelock had no reason to fight for Ganondorf. He killed the demondragon he was riding on and flew high into the sky. The calwot began chanting loudly, and little bits of lightening from the overcast sky began to surround him. Link remembered that this powerful cat had the power to control weather, and watched in amazement as all the black clouds began to float away and dissolve at an alarming rate. Soon the only cloud in the sky was the Flying Fortress, and that was only big enough to cast a shadow over Hyrule castle and the land behind it, not cover the whole battlefield. Sunlight poared into the fray, making every demondragon hiss with displeasure and slight pain. "I love that cat! Whoever that powerful guy is, he just gave us an advantage!" Kozin shouted, freezing two demondragons that had been squirming in pain from the bright sun. Another happy turn of event happened as Llance decided to change sides as well. He had been pinning Hyrule's flying creatures's wings with sharp barbs of magic, but now he turned on his violent master Ganondorf and began pinning demondragon wings, and casting haste spells on Hyrule's allies. Ganondorf's scream of rage was audiable over most of the battlefield.  
"Curses! You two will pay dearly for this treachery!" The Gerudo King yelled. He was practically enraged. The tide of battle shifted, and now Hyrule was no longer losing. As the demondragons became more used to the sunlight and fought back, it seemed as if the two armies were doing equally well. It was still and awful sight, though. Blood fell down apon the land of Hyrule like rain. Link hoped that soon the war would be over. "Feelock and Llance will die slowly for this," Ganondorf hissed under his breath, shooting black lightening at an attacking calwot. Ganondorf had to make a quick decision. It was go and get the rest of his forces in the middle of battle, or lose to Hyrule. Ganondorf still had a few hundred demondragons he could summon from his castle, plus he hadn't attacked with his Gerudos yet, preferring them to stay alive since there weren't all that many of them (a bit less than 200. Even though there was few of them, the Gerudos were mad about not being able to fight and would jump at the chance). If he flew back to his mini fortress he could summon the dragons and use a trasportation spell to get his Gerudos. He had to chance leaving the battlefield for over half an hour to do that. He cursed loudly, ordering his dragon to fly back to the fortress in Hyrule Field. As he was leaving he spotted something that made him grin widely. Zelda. If he captured her and stole her triforce, he would be twice as powerful and dang near impossible to kill. If he did that, even if his army here was defeated, he could lay low for a while and gain the powers to summon an even bigger one, if he needed it. Plus, if the Princess of Hyrule and Sage of Time was gone, what good would the Hero of Time be? It would be even more impossible to seal him in the Sacred Realm, and Ganondorf knew Link liked the Princess very much...her death would break his heart.  
"Are you leaving already, Ganondorf?" Zelda asked, Cazan diving at Darenkil. The huge griffons and dragon (Cazan was only slightly smaller than Darenkil) locked talons and flapped madly to stay airborne, biting and clawing at eachother fiercely. Zelda shot a blast of light magic at Ganondorf, who managed to dodge it thanks to his dragon's violent twisting and biting. The next time Zelda came into view, Ganondorf threw two balls of evil magic at her, one that went straight and another that twirled and changed directions several times in its course. Zelda blocked the first with a light shield, but couldn't avoid the second as it zipped around and hit her in the back. She screamed and began to fall, and Ganondorf hit Cazan with some black lighteneing. The King of mountain griffons screeched like a hawk and fell back in pain, and Darenkil dived towards the falling Zelda. He opened his wings when he was under her, and Ganondorf caught the unconscious Princess. Grinning, he cast a powerful speed spell on Darenkil, who flew toward Ganondorf's mini fortress with all the speed of the wind.  
"Kozin, look! Ganondorf is escaping!" Link shouted to the giant griffon he was riding. "He must be up to something, I've gotta follow him!"  
"Whatever you do, don't tell the army. If they stop fighting demondragons to go after Ganon, the dragons will kill them from behind. I'd follow him, but I can't just leave my people here," The sea griffon explained. "I'll put you on a swift griffon." Link nodded and after a moment Kozin found a quick sea griffon and Link leapt onto his back. According to his King's orders, the griffon casted a haste spell on himself and followed Ganondorf. While most soldiers were too busy figthing to notice the fleeing Gerudo King, the Sages, Llance and Taig noticed and followed. "Is it alright if I drop you off at his fortress and return to the battle?" Link's griffon asked. "Yeah, that's fine. Just fly as fast as you can." Link said. He was close enough behind Ganondorf to have a clear view of his back. Something pink was fluttering from his arms..."S-shoot! I think he has Zelda!" "He's got the Princess? I'd better really hurry!" The griffon said, pumping his wings and using the currents of the air to go as fast as possible. It usually took half an hour to get to Lon Lon Ranch by air, but at the incredible speed they were flying at, Ganondorf and his persuer got there in just over ten minutes. The demondragon swooped down into the large entrance and made a smooth landing, dashing inside. Link's griffons got there only moments later, and Link hopped off his back. "Thanks a bunch, pal. Good luck in battle!" The griffon grinned.  
"Any time. Speed is my favorite thing to exhibit. Be careful, my friend." With that the griffon took of in the direction he came from, soaring back to Hyrule Castle. In the distance, Link saw seven flying creatures approaching. _They must have seen Ganon run, too_. He thought. _But I don't have time to wait. They can catch up with me_. Link ran inside the black, dimly lit castle without a glance backwards. What he didn't see was a huge, blackish-purple barrier Ganondorf erected over his castle only moments after the Hylian enterred. The shield had been meant to keep Link out temporarily, but in the chance he got past before the barrier could stop him, there was a second line of defense. After a few moments of running, Link met Darenkil.  
  
"Ray, you did just see Link and the sages follow Ganondorf out of here, right?" Cyphas asked Raykel as they fought demondragons together over Hyrule Castle on the backs of two small dragons (small being wagon-sized). "Yeah, I saw it. I'd want to follow, but I hate to think about what would happen here if we lost this battle. If many more of us leaves, that's a real possibility. Crud...look, Cirokaal is leaving!" Raykel said, pointing. "With him gone, our chances of losing just got higher. We've gotta pick up the pace! Say, we don't have light magic, but Sahoriel has some...I've got an idea. Keep fighting Cy, I'm going to go talk to Feelock and Sahoriel!" Cyphas nodded and blew him a kiss, grinned, and went back to hacking at enemies.  
  
"**Great, just great**!" Taig growled frustratedly, glaring at the purple and black wall preventing him and the Sages from following Link. None of them had light magic to break the barrier with, and even Llance with his strange spells couldn't do anything. "**Aw, man...Link's gonna get injured in there, I just know it! What will he do without the Great Taig**?"  
"We'll just have to stay here in case he comes out," Impa said. "Or we somehow find a way to break the barrier. We've got to keep trying. You griffons have been a great help, but we won't require you to stay here with us," She said to the griffons the five Sages had been riding. Relieved, the griffons took off. "This is very serious," Llance's cool voice spoke up. "From within that fortress, Ganondorf can cast many advanced spells. He may have reinforcements he never told me or Feelock about. Either way, you said he has the Sage of Time...and I take it that's very bad."  
"Very, very bad!" Saria said. "Come on, let's try to blast it with all our power combined!" She suggested. It was then that her and the rest saw Cirokaal approaching.  
  
"We meet for the lassst time, human. I shall devour you asss I did your brother." The dragon's inscisive, slick voice irritated Link already. And that was besides the fact that he had just said something Link would make him regret.  
"Don't get too cocky, you slime. Dragons aren't that much of a problem for me." Link growled. "And as for what you did to my brother...for that, you will die." He said, glaring knives at the dragon. The Master Sword made a sharp ring as it left its scabbard.  
"If it isss any consolation, your little pessst sssibling gave me indegestion...I don't even think the little punk has digesssted completely yet. But thisss sssteel ssstomach can handle anything, so in a few days your brother will be nothing but a - ARGGGG!" The dragon roared in pain from an arrow that lodged itself below his left eye. Link had pulled out his bow and fired faster than the dragon could even keep track of! He decided to shut his scaley mouth.  
"Trust me dragon, you don't want to make me any madder than I already am!" Link shouted, putting his bow away and rushing at the dragon with his sword. Link cut at the dragon's belly (he had to stretch upward to even reach it), but since the dragon was so big its belly scales were too hard for the Master Sword to cut. Before Link could try and hack at the smaller scales on the demondragon's arm, it jumped back.  
"You wont beat me like that, sssimpleton. Without ledgendary magic covering your blade, your effortsss are ussselesss." The dragon pointed out. Link wondered why he said that. Did he want to die by telling Link how to kill him? Link called forth the light, evil-repelling magic of his sword. If the dragon wanted to die so bad, he'd give it its wish. Luckily for Link, the hall they were fighting in was definately not big enough for the huge dragon to fly in, and the dragon was actually rather cramped, so it couldn't run very fast as he charged at it a second time. Darenkil's eyes glowed the color of blood as he opened his jaw and black fire came exploding out at link. Link pulled out his mirror shield, but reflecting the fire didn't do much good since the dragon was immune to its own attack. Instead the dragon only made its stream of fire more intense. The fire broke apart on Link's shield, flying in all directions and heating the metal. Plus, since it was evil fire Link was weakeing from simply being near it. It stuck Link that he was blocking with the wrong object. He lowered the mirror shield and pointed the shining Master Sword's tip right into the fire. The collision of the flames on the light-covered blade resulted in a shock that threw Darenkil into the wall behind him. "You'll have to do better than that," Link said, dashing toward the grounded dragon. Darenkil chanted a quick spell as Link neared him, and black spikes jutted up from the ground right under Link. They would have skewered him if he didn't jump at the last minute, landing on the dragon's upper arm and sticking the full length of his sword into it. Darenkil's roar of agony was so loud Link had no doubt Ganondorf had heard it. Good, Link thought. Let him know I'm coming for him. Let him know he's going to be destroyed. Darenkil collapsed completely, and Link, yanking his sword out of the beast's arm, strolled up his shoulder and onto the top of his neck. He raised his sword over it.  
"Pleassse....are you really going to kill me, sssweet human? I thought you were not a murderer..." The dragon hissed.  
"MURDER?! Define murder, you stinking heap of scales! Murder is what you did to Chain! What....murder is, is what...I'm about to do to you..." Link said, the realization of it hitting him. This dragon was intelligent like a human, like a mountain dragon...were they not people? Would not killing this dragon be breaking his vow, just like when he killed those other poor dragons.  
"Pleassse kind human. Do not take my poor life...pleassse forgive me, sssweet human...." Link growled in irritation. He knew he couldn't do it. He couldn't kill a person begging for his, or _its_ life. If this was the way he felt about the dragon, how would he react if Ganondorf was the same way? "I don't know if I can ever forgive you," Link said harshly. "I always try to forgive my enemies, but you took something from me that can never be replaced. But...I can't kill you. Just never let me see your disgusting face again, or I may not be so merciful, got it?" The dragon nodded weakly as Link stepped off of him. Link left down the hall to go find Ganondorf, and Darenkil began dragging himself in the other direction. _Ssstupid, rotten human...I can't believe I couldn't kill it! I'll have to try agian later. For now I must leave, because if Ganondorf findsss out I didn't fo my job, he'll kill me.._.Darenkil had barely enough strength to drag himself outside, but as he was looking at the ground he couldn't see what was out there. He went though the barrier (since he's evil, he can do that) and stopped dead in his tracks when a pair of red dragon paws came into his view. He looked up weakly and saw the Sages, Llance, Taig and Cirokaal staring at him. "Pleassse, kind creaturesss, do not-" He didn't finish his sentence as Cirokaal grabbed his skinny face and dragged him closer, driving his emensely strong fist into the demondragon's gut. The larger dragon had hit the demondragon so hard it messed up his insides, and as Darenkil collapsed he spat enough blackish blood to fill a swimming pool. He spat something else as well. It was a large ball of light. "What the heck is that?" Cirokaal wondered, stepping over to the ball. The rest got close to it, too. Slowly, the light faded and a person dropped out of it. They were all astounded to look apon Chain's unconscious but virtually unharmed body.  
  
As the darkness in Princess Zelda's mind cleared, she awoke in a dark, cold place. She immediatley realized there was a strain on her body, but coudn't see for the blackness of where she was. She tried to move, and found that both her arms and legs were tightly locked under metal bands. Her head fell forward from gravity and she knew she was secured to a wall, high enough up that her feet didn't touch the ground. As soon as she was fully awake, she noticed a dim light. She looked forward and saw a purple glow, surrounding a strangely-shaped object...it looked like a weapon. Then the purple light went out and all was black for a few seconds, before the entire room was lit by the torches lining the wall burting into flames. There ones were lit with normal fire for a change, instead of the odd green stuff that lit most torches in Ganondorf's castle. But that wasn't the first thing Zelda noticed. The first thing she noticed was Ganondorf's ugly face as he grinned at her. She looked at the ground quickly, irritably telling her body to quit shaking. She was helpless now. The King of Evil had her where he wanted her.  
"So, her Royal Highness has finally decided to join us, I see." He said quietly. Though he hadn't said anything threatening, his very voice was terrifyingly threatening. Zelda shuddered. Ganondorf laughed deeply. "Hhahahahaha! Are you afraid of me, Princess? You should be." He got close to her and put a cold hand on her chin, roughly pulling it up and forcing her to look at him. "Guess what? Your little boyfirend is coming to save you right now. What he doesn't know is that he'll die when he gets here, unless you give me your triforce right now." Zelda was quite frightened, but had enough prescence of mind to speak. She had to at least pretend she wasn't scared.  
"Forget the idea, Ganondorf. I'm not going to give you my triforce, now or ever. If you think you can kill Link, you've got another thing coming. He'll beat you, it's his destiny!" She let out a short yelp as the Gerudo King slapped her.  
"Wrong answer, girly. By the way, what makes you think I can't beat him now? I've already beaten him three times!" Ganondorf said. "That was just a love tap. Refuse again, and I'll do some real damage."  
"Beat him, you say? Quite dishonorably! The first time you hit him cheaply from behind, the second time you couldn't kill him because the calwots were coming and you had to flee. The third time, you were running from Link, even if he was dying! 'Defeated' my pointy ears!" She gasped and closed her eyes as he raised a fist to punch her. "Foolish girl! You know far too much because of that triforce of yours. Do you want me to kill you to get it? If you make me do that, I'll kill Link too. I'll have the pleasure of seeing you both die. If you two would just hand them over, perhaps I'd let you live as my servants, but no!" Ganondorf punched Zelda's stomach, and even though he hadn't meant to really hurt her bad yet, he was angry enough that he broke a rib. Zelda screamed in pain, and a bit of blood as on her lips and Ganondorf raised her face again. She tried to cast a verbal spell on him, but to her surprise, nothing happened. Ganondorf grinned conescendingly. "Do you really think that metal would hold you if I let you keep your magic? Unfortunately for you, I know magic-repressing magic. You will be incapable of casting any spell you've learned for the next hour." Zelda closed her eyes, a frustrated grimace covering her face. She felt Ganondorf's hand leave her chin and punch her across the face. "The Triforce of Wisdom!" He shouted, and Zelda shook her head. She let out a low moan as he hit her again. Link, where are you? She wondered, and heard Ganondorf mutter something inaudiable that sounded like a curse. "He's here..." Ganon growled.  
  
"Wake up Chain, by the power of the stars over Kaarinea." Llance muttered something and drew a symbol on the air above Chain's unmoving face. His blue eyes fluttered and opened. "What....happened to me?" He asked weakly, looking up at Llance. His eyes widened a bit at the sight of the Kaarinean. "Are you going to kill me?" Llance shook his head.  
"I've changed sides, Sage of Light. Do you remember anything? Ganondorf fed you to his dragon." Llance said. Chain's eyes widened as memoried came back, and he sat up. "Yeah, I remember...the jerkoff was trying to hurt Link by killing me. All I remember before I blacked out in that dragon's throat was something stabbing my side." Chain looked down at his side and saw a bloody wound that strangely did not hurt like the rest of his wounds. He felt something in that wound and as he touched it he felt something hard. He withdrew an arrowhead. Supprisingly, the painless wound closed up instantly. "What on earth..."  
"Ah, this is the effects of light magic," Llance said. "Though I do not posess any powerful light magic other than healing, me and my people are a race of magic-users, and we study the effects of magic extensively. Did anyone shoot a light arrow at you?" Chian shook his head in confusion.  
"Link might've shot a light arrow at the dragon after it ate me, and hit the part of it's neck I was being swallowed in."  
"That must be exactly what heppened, by the looks of it," Llance said, looking at the lace the arrowhead had been. He continued, his calm, almost kind voice making Chian wonder how he could've ever served Ganon. "As you were being swallowed, Link magic arrow pierced the dragon's neck and hit you. Since it's light, it couldn't really hurt you, and that's why the wound closed up. Anyways, the lgiht fromt he arrow woke the lgiht in your own body, as you are the Sage of Light. Your power, combined with the arrow's power, surrounded you in a magic shield which prevented the dragon's stomach acids from hurting you. This is a very strange effect...but light magic is one of the oddest and most powerful magics. Some say it almost has a mind of its own."  
"Like the Master Sword?" Chain asked in wonder. "I do not know this sword, but if it is a legendary weapon, yes, it is infused with a magic all its own that may even be capable of making decisions." The Sages as dragons whistled in awe. This man certainly knew a lot about magic.  
"**If you know so much, Llance, do you know of a way we can get into the castle? A spell blast from all of us didn't work**." Taig pointed out needlessly.  
"Now that the Sage of Light is here, I may know of a way," Llance said quietly, nodding.  
  
"Welcome, Link. You're just in time for the fun." Ganondorf said. "Now that I have all three triforce holders in one spot...I won't even have to call up my reinforcements! I won't even need an army for that matter, hahahahah!" Link surveyed the room. It was Ganondorf's throne room, lit by large torches on the curtain-covered wall. Most of the floor was black stone, but a red carpet covered the gorund leading to the spikey throne, elevated formt he rest of the floor by stone steps. There were various weapons on the wall of the relatively large room, and suites of armor (which Link gratefully noted were not Metal Knuckle - shaped. That last thing he needed was a couple of those) The only other things in the room was a table with some wierd liquid-filled bottles on it, and a full length mirror on an antique stand. He glared at Ganondorf darkly as he saw Zelda on the wall, her face bleeding.  
"So Ganondorf...before we go at it I'd like to know...just why in the heck did you take the Ocarina of Time, why the heck can't I use my full power, and how the heck did you escape the Sacred Realm and get so powerful?" Link asked. "By the way, touch Zelda again and you're toast." Ganondorf frowned.  
"You're in no place to be making threats, Link. You think your friends are coming, don't you? Well I just looked at them with my magic a few minutes ago, and they are all unable to come to your aid because of the barrier I created around this castle. As for your dumb questions, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you the truth and rub my genious plan in your face before I kill you. That is, unless you prefer to hand over the Triforce of Courage and live."  
"I think you know the answer to that," Link said calmly. His left hand was growing warm with a strange pulsating and he looked down at it. The Triforce of Courage was shning right through his glove, reasonating with the other two triforces. This always happened when all three were together.  
"Indeed. I expected no less. Now then, about my plan." A grin spread over Ganondorf's face and something appeared out of thin air next to him. It was a huge, wierd-shaped sword. It had to be almost as big as Link! The straight sides of the blade were razor-sharp and looked like a normal sword; it was the tip that was different. It was rounded into a half circle, the sides of which jutted out slightly. Though it was round, it was razor sharp like the rest. The sword was shaped somewhat like the silhouette of a screwhead with smooth sides (if that description isn't enough, let's just say it's the sword from Super Smash Bros. Melee). The sword glowed faintly with black magic at regular intervals. "In the year that I was trapped in the Sacred Realm, I thought many times of how you beat me. You were just a brat, a shot kid with ugly clothes. How did you defeat the geatest sorcerer in Hyrule? It wasn't the strength of your triforce, I have one of those. It wasn't the strength of your love, because I have more hate for you than you could possible have love for anyone. It was your sword, Link. A legendary weapon with legendary power. I thought back and wondered if I could have killed you with the Sword of Darkness. That blade is infused with evil magic so powerful it rivals the Master Sword, but that cursed blade was created by the godesses and even the Sword of Darkness does not contain the amount of power that thing does. So, I decided to create my own legendary blade. Me, a mortal. Impossible, you say? Not with extensive study.  
"There is a way to create a legendary weapon with power equal to the Master Sword's, I'll tell you how since you're so magically weak neither you nor Zelda could ever do it. To create a legendary item, you need two legendary items. One to draw magic from directly, and one indirectly. That's why I took the Ocarina of Time. It was my direct source of power. The indirect source, Link, is you...or more specifically, the power you evoke in the Master Sword. I needed a way to get that power, so I left you alive. You need the triforce of courage to use the power, so I didn't take that. Instead, while you were laying unconscious, I left a curse on you. When I carved words into your back, I created a curse that would suck the power you use and give it to me until I didn't need it anymore. This curse also made it impossible for you to use the sword's full power. Now that I no longer need magic the curse will leave, but before you rejoice let me tell you exactly what that means. It means that every time you used your sword's power, it was feeding my sword. Getting you to use your legendary magic and feed my sword was the sole purpose of all my generals, as well as every demondragon I've sent at you. My plan had worked perfectly, and by protecting your country with legendary magic, you have ensured it's doom! Hhaahahahaha!" Link stared at the huge blade. It didn't look so special.  
"That warped piece of metal is supposed to be as strong as the Master Sword? Sure doesn't look it, Ganny." Link said.  
"Don't call me that or I'll kill you, you fool," Ganondorf said shortly, making Link almost laugh with the abruptness of the threat. "Now that you're here, this sword can be reunited with it's indirect but main power source. It will become the legendary opposite of the sword that made it! This sword will become the Sword of Light's Bane! Hhahaha, it's all thanks to you, kid!" Ganondorf took out the Ocarina of Time. "Now that I don't need this anymore..." Link was about to shout in anger as Ganondorf tried to crush the little wind instrument, but it didn't break, no matter how hard he tried ot crush it. "Stupid legendary item..." In irritation, Ganondorf pitched it at Link's head, hoping it might break on his hard skull. Instead, Link just caught it and said 'thanks, Ganondork'. "Bloody boy!" Ganondorf yelled, but then he calmed himself and chanted something. Link wondered if he should attack him or not. It might prevent the creation of the blade. Then again, it would prevent the curse from being lifted as well. Not only that, but Link was very curious.  
"Now come to life, Sword of Light's Bane!" Ganondorf shouted, gripping the hilt of the floating sword.

okay this is a cliff hanger, sorry, but I couldnt prevent it with the format of my stories and all....well depending on how fast I get reviews I should update soon, and the next section is the showdown between Link and Ganondorf! Don't miss it hehe. If you have questions or want to see my art email me. See ya next time -Talonclawfange


	5. The Shield of Life 10, 11, epilogue

**Section 10  
**

**Shielding Lives  
**  
The sword pierced the light with with the blackest, most pure form of evil magic. It sucked the light out of the air around it, and painful, blackish-purple waves of power radiated from it. Link then experienced a sharp, excruciating wave of blackness as something dark yanked itself out of him and flew to Ganondorf's sword. The sword flared even darker, its very radiation making Link and Zelda scream in pain. Then the darkness was gone. The room was lit properly by the torches, and Link looked at the Sword of Light's Bane. It looked the same as it had before save for a faint aura of darkness, but it had a different feel. Before it had been a piece of metal, now Link could feel it prescence so clearly he wouldn't known it was there from a mile away with his eyes closed. It now had a magical sort of half-life, like the Master Sword. Ganondorf hadn't been lying. This blade was for real.  
"Feel the power, Link? It wont be long before you feel the power cut you in half! But before that, I will tell you how I escaped the Sage's pathetic seal. I admit I couldn't have done it myself...I had the help of a very powerful creature who wishes me to keep his name secret for now. That creature is powerful beyond reason...he helped me escape on the day that the seal is weakest, the anniversary of the day it was made exactly a year before. He helped me acquire new powers and freed me. That man...no, that monster's power rivals the power of the godesses themselves. I doubt they could kill him if they wanted to. But he is in another plane of existance now. All you have to worry about is me, Hero of Fools. Let's say we get started." Link was only too happy to draw his sword. Rage welled up in him almost uncontrollably. Ganondorf had killed Cosha, Chain and others...his stupid war was causing hundreds of deaths...and now he had had Zelda, the person Link cared about more than anyone, locked to a cold wall with her face bleeding. It was time to end everything that Ganondorf was. Link rushed at the huge Gerudo, yelling.  
"I don't care if you have a new weapon, Ganondorf, I've had enough of you! Take this!" Link swung at the King powerfully, but Ganondorf jumped back to avoid it, laughing because Link had left himself wide open. He slashed downward with his huge sword. Link didn't have the time to move, and could only bring up his Hylian Shield. "Aaaahhh!" He screamed as the shield was shattered and the shock hit his arm so hard he was surprised it didn't shatter, too. He barely managed to roll out of the way before Ganondrof could stomp on him. _I'll have to be fast to beat him,_ Link thought. _Strong attacks will only allow him to attack me, and if that sword hits me..._Ganondorf laughed quietly, and dashed at Link.  
"Now that I don't need you or your sword's ledgendary power anymore, I will thoroughly enjoy this!" Ganondorf swung his huge sword at Link's chest, and the Hylian ducked under it. He came up quickly and cut at Ganon, but discovered he'd drawn his smaller Gerudo sword with his free hand and blocked with it. Crap, he can wield that enormous sword with one hand?! Link hoped he hadn't underestimated the Gerudo. Ganondorf's boot collided with his chest, hurling him back into the full-length mirror. It shattered as his body flew through it and he landed among the shards. They didn't cut him badly and he jumped to his feet. Ganondorf ran at Link again, and as he cut at him, Link jumped and put a hand on Ganondorf's head, flipping around behind him to give him a large slash on the back with the Master Sword. Growling in pain, Ganondorf turned around at a speed amazing for his size and socked Link in the jaw, sending him sprawling. "Come on, Link! You can beat him!" Zelda yelled, struggling against her bands a bit. Since she was hanging from her wrists, the hard metal was beginning to hurt. Link wiped some blood off his chin and stood up, facing Ganondorf. "Hahahah! Beat me, you say? What makes you so confident? You know the power I've gained. You know I've beat Link numerous times already. Besides, even if he did beat me, what would he do?" Ganondorf looked at Link. "He's too weak to kill me. Even if he held my life in his hands, his pathetic heart wouldn't let him destroy another man's life."  
"Don't be so sure, Ganondorf," Link said uncertainly. What _would_ he do? "Hheheheheh, so it's come to that...you really think you could kill me, eh? Just like those dragons, right?" Link glared at him.  
"That was different." He hissed, gripping his sword's hilt. "Was it? Remember what I've told you, Link. Murder is unforgivable. You murdered them. Don't bother denying it. They had lives of their own, brought to a short end because of you! How many wild animals just trying to fill their bellies have you killed? You might as well give up this self-righteous bull." Ganon said. He grinned, seeing Link was affected by his words.  
"Don't listen, Link! You're a good person, you were just trying to defend people, that's all! Only taking lives to save lives!" Zelda shouted. Ganondorf let her talk. It was only helping him.  
"And who has the right to decide who lives and who dies? Are you trying to be a diety, Link? Tryin to make decisions as foolish as that? My policy is simple. If it gets in my way I kill it, and let it be sorted out in heaven. But you...you are trying to make heaven's decisions for it! Is that what you call 'right'?" "Shut up, Ganondorf! You don't have any idea of what's right!" Link yelled.  
"Peace is right, do you agree? Don't you fight for peace, Link? Well if everyone would simply submit to me, there would be peace. Instead you all fight, losing your lives and following a senile old fool. My dream is one of peace. Everyone serves me, and there are no problems!" Link spat.  
"Don't give me that. Peace, indeed! What you envision is slavery! As for me, I'd rather stand up and perhaps die than serve a monster like you." Link said.  
"That's right, I am a monster. And you'll kill me like the rest, huh? Add me to the blood on your murderous hands?"  
"Stop twisting the truth!" Link yelled, running at Ganondorf. But as he reached Ganondorf he stopped. _Shoot, what if he's right? I don't like hurting people...what good will it do if I hurt him? Maybe I can't even do that. He's so powerful._ Ganon took advantage of his brief pause, and drove his knee into Link's stomach, using black magic. Link slammed into the wall behind him, falling to the ground and groaning. The black magic had injured his insides, and he could already feel blood rising in his throat. A single blow had already slowed him down substantially. He suddenly realized this was a losing battle. "Link, don't stop fighting!" Zelda pleaded. "You can't let Ganondorf win! He doesn't want peace, he'll destroy Hyrule and kill anybody who doesn't want to serve him!" Ganondorf was finally getting irritated about her comments.  
"Shut your mouth, Princess, or I'll shut it for you. Permanently!" He growled, running to Link and lifting both swords over his head. Link rolled between his legs as the swords came crashing down, but as he tried to get up the shaking of the ground made him fall again. _Sheesh, just hitting the ground with his sword makes it quake! How can I defeat that...I'm just a Hylian_...Link brushed the thought from his head. _He's only playing with my mind! This is how I lost before, I can't let him twist the truth and dishearten me. I've gotta beat him, Hyrule's at stake_! As the shaking stopped Link jumped up, calling the power of the Platinum Gauntlets and punching Ganondorf's side. "I'm not going to listen to you Ganondorf, so just be quiet and fight!" Ganon grunted and stumbled back, nearly falling from the strong punch. Link was amazed it hadn't done more damage. He could lift tons with the Platinum Gauntlets, and they hadn't even broken a rib! Ganon launched himself at Link and punched his side extremely hard with evil magic, likely attacking that area for the sole reason of proving he was stronger. Link did what Cyphas had taught him, but the punch still sent him flying, to land roughly below Zelda. "Ugh..." Link held his side and got up slowly. It hurt so much he couldn't tell if anything was broken or not. He felt a thin line of blood slide from the corner of his mouth.  
"You have to up the pace if you want to survive, Link!" Ganondorf said, running to him and attempting to cut him with the huge sword. Link ducked under that attack, coming up inside Ganon's sword arc, too close to be hit, cutting his side with the Master Sword. Ganondorf yelling in pain and irritation, shoving Link backwards and attacking with his smaller sword. Link dodged and struck at Ganon, who simply parried the strike and slashed at him again with the big sword this time. Link rolled to the side and the sword hit the wall, making a large cut in the stone right under Zelda's feet. Link backed away, hoping to draw Ganondorf away from Zelda. Instead, Ganondorf stayed next to her, smiling down at Link in triumph. He reached over and put a hand on her neck, making her scream in fear. No...not again...I can't let him kill her...He took a step closer to Ganondorf, who gestured to the Princess. "If you want her to die, by all means, keep moving!" Link froze.  
"Whatever you do, don't give him the triforce, Link!" Zelda said. Ganon stared at her murderously.  
"Don't you dare hurt her, you jerk..." Link warned, raising his sword. Ganon's grin widened.  
"I've found your weakness, haven't I?" He taunted. "I won't hurt her, Link. All you have to do is give me your triforce, heh heh. I'm waiting." Link knew he couldn't do that..."Fine then!" Predictably, the cold-hearted Gerudo King began to throttle the Princess. Link burned with rage. This man was truly desparate. Would he stop at nothing? "LET HER GO!!!" Link screamed, but had no way of making him do it. If he got any closer, he'd kill her for sure. If he got out his bow, he'd still kill her for sure. Ganondorf grinned, seeing the torture his actions were putting Link through. Link looked angry yet hopeless and pain filled his eyes as Zelda choked. Ganondorf glanced at Zelda, enjoying the sight of her pretty face screwed up in pain. When he looked back at Link, he got a sword in the face. I was foolish to look away, Ganondorf thought as the sword put a large cut in the side of his face. I shouldn't underestimate his rage...The Evil King's wound burned with light magic and he backed up, putting a hand over it. Zelda coughed and shook her head, gasping.  
"You little fool...Yaaah!" Ganondrof swung at Link with the large sword, in a quick swipe that was all too quick for how big it was. Link tried to jump back, but the tip of the sword caught him across the chest, giving him a long, dangerously deep laceration and hurling him backwards. Link didn't think it was possible that a sword could hurt him more than the Sword of Darkness. Now he knew better. He screamed in pain, the black magic infecting his body. He called up the light magic of the Master Sword, which mercifully cancelled out the evil magic. The big slash still wasn't healed though, and Link staggered to his feet. He dimly noted the soaking warmth covering his chest, pouring down to drip on the floor. He looked where Ganondorf had been, and saw nothing.  
"Link, behind you!" Zelda screamed just before Ganondorf's huge foot hit the back of his head. He flew forward and skidded to a stop on the cold, hard stone. The blow to the back of his head made him dizzy for a moment and he got up as fast as he could, but Ganondorf was in his face again (he had sheathed his swords), grabbing him by the collar and throwing him into the wall. Link's body made a few cracks form the force it hit the wall with, and he fell to the ground. "Come on, Link!" Zelda yelled, becomming very worried. Link had let Ganondorf gain the upper hand, and the King wasn't about to not take advantage of it. His confident gait showed his confidence in winning the battle as he walked up to Link. "Any last words, brat?" He asked as Link got to his feet, leaning against the wall for support. Without waiting for an answer, Ganondorf grabbed his neck and lifted him off his feet, his back against the wall. He the took Link's left wrist and shocked it with dark magic to make him drop his sword. Then, he laughed. "Hhahahaah! You are so WEAK! How did I ever lose to you?" Link's breath came in small, short gasps. Ganondorf painfully tightened his grip. "Your very breathing irritates me."  
"Link! No, stop this!" Zelda pleaded, struggling a bit. Link coughed, fighting for breath.  
"Oh, how inconsiderate of me. You can't even properly watch him die from this angle." Ganondorf, once again tightening his hold on Link, walked over to Zelda and held Link up in front of her. "There, that better? You know the routine. Give me your triforce." Zelda shook her head, tears pouring down her cheeks.  
"Let him go, you heartless beast..." She said quietly, staring into Link's pained eyes as he slowly strangled. Link was suffocating, his lips taking on a bluish tint. His sight was darknening, and Ganondorf's grip on his neck was now so tight he couldn't even feel it anymore. For a while he tried not to look like he was in too much pain because it hurt the Princess, but couldn't keep it up long and started to choke and stuggle. He suddenly looked at Zelda with meaning in his eyes, then looked behind him._ He wants me to do something,_ Zelda thought. _But what? I can't even reach out and touch him!_ He looked at her, then behind him, then down. He was gesturing, asking...His eyes looked tired. They began to close as he choked. _Oh no! What does he want? He can't even reach for a weapon or Ganon will kill him...that's it, he needs a distraction so Ganondorf won't see him!_ Zelda focused her eyes behind Ganondorf. "No, don't." She said, as if talking to someone there. Ganondorf gave her a skeptical glare. He wasn't falling for it. "Taig, stop! He'll only kill you if you do that! NO!" She shouted, and Ganondorf, falling for it and thinking Taig was about to attack him, looked behind him. This gave Link the perfect chance to pull out his dagger and cut Ganondorf's arm with it, which he did. Ganondorf yelled in pain as the knife cut his arm deeply, and he dropped Link, who fell to his knees. The Hylian held his aching neck, couging and breathing heavily. "I'll kill you for that, Zelda..." Ganondorf said, reaching for her. Link wasn't about to let that happen. He stood up, between the King and Princess, and drove his left fist into Ganondorf's gut as hard as he possibly could. The King flew back a few feet, falling over and holding his stomach. He got into a sitting position, gasping. "You...bratty...kid..." Link took the opportunity to say thanks to Zelda, run over to his sword and retireve it, then run at Ganondorf. His wounds bled in protest, but he ignorred them, focusing on his enemy. Ganon jumped to his feet, and as Link hacked at him he jumped into the air. Link had aimed for the King's chest, but only managed to get his shins, cutting them. Ganondorf flew up a few more feet and then came crashing down, his purple-magic covered boots slamming into Link, sending him sprawling. In his pain he had dropped his sword, and as the King of Evil reached him he wrapped his hand in the Hylians's collar, lifting him off the ground and punching his face repeatedly. _How was I foolish enough to think I could beat Ganondorf? Dumb, dumb, dumb! He beat me twice and he's kicking my butt again! This time there's nothing to stop him from finishing me. _Link thought, pain distorting his vision. Ganondorf, having a ball, continued to punch him until Link kicked his chin rather hard, and the King let go. Link landed on his feet but then fell backwards with a soft moan, his head aching and blood covering the side of his face. After a moment Link managed to stand, which only made Ganondorf smile evilly. He grabbed Link's shoulder and drew a concealed dagger, burying it to the hilt in Link's side. Zelda and Link both screamed. Ganon yanked the dagger out, blood covering it and his hand. Link fell to his knees, clutching his new wound and breathing raggedly. Blood trickled thickly from his mouth.  
"Blast it, Link." Zelda said quietly, crying as she watched Ganondorf grab Link's neck and shove him against the wall again. "Fight back...he's going to kill you..." The Gerudo then began joyfully socking Link in the gut over and over again, each time harder then the last. It went on for a minute or two, until Zelda couldn't take it anymore. "Stop it, Ganondorf! Stop it, stop it!!!" She screamed and Ganondorf paused, looking over at her.  
"It will take more than your words to make me stop, Princess. I may not even stop if you offer me the triforce at this point. I'm having far too much fun!" He let go of Link, who crumpled to the stone floor, choking on his own blood. He coughed violently a few times as Ganondorf dragged him to his feet. "Not going to beg for your life, Link? You seem to be in a great deal of pain." Link could hardly talk.  
"Yeah right..." He coughed, getting some blood on Ganondorf. "I'd never...stoop so low...you murdering lunatic..." Ganon frowned.  
"Well, how dissappointing. I was hoping you'd beg on your knees, just like you did before I killed your brother!" Ganondorf said loudly. Link, still on his feet only because of Ganondorf's hold on his collar, punched the King's chest. He was so weak that Ganon barely felt it. "Hahahaha! Is that all you have left? You're not as much fun when you can't struggle anymore." Ganondorf let go of his collar and jumped back, round-kicking his head wickedly hard before he could fall. Link hurled into the wall, his head making a dent in it and getting stuck. Zelda screamed, knowing such a blow would surely be lethal...His body lay limp for a moment, his head hidden from view in the stone. Then his arms lifted, trying to pull his head free. "Oh my gosh...he's still alive...impossible! I just drove his friggin' head into the wall! The brat!" Ganondorf walked over and grabbed the front of Link's tunic, yanking him out of the wall. Link blinked up at him blearily, his face covered in blood. "Are you immortal or something, kid! Nobody could survive that!" Link grunted weakly as Ganondorf punched his face, making him fall to the ground roughly. He coughed, stretched out on the red carpet, which was becooming redder each passing second with his blood. "Well, you are a triforce holder, so I suppose it's normal that you'd survive what most humans cannot. But now it's over. You won't survive this!" Ganondorf kicked his side to make him flip onto his back and put his large foot on Link's lower chest, pushing downward. Before he did too much damage, he looked at Zelda, who was weeping openly. "You can still stop this, Zelda. I'd love to kill him, but if you give me the Triforce of Wisdom willingly, and I learn every way you've used it...I will let him go. I'll leave him alone. Heck, I might even help him out." He grinned wolfishly.  
"You're l-lying..." Zelda said. Ganondorf shrugged. "Believe what you want to, Princess. As for me, I'm going to enjoy this." He stomped downward with his boot, and Link doubled up, grabbing the King's large ankle and screaming. If his ribs weren't already all broken, they had to be now, as he spit blood and yelled. "Don't you love him, Zelda?! Then save his life!" Ganondorf said, pushing harder with his heel and exulting in Link's pained screams. He loved the feel of his hated enemy's bones breaking under his boot. He cackled loudly. "How many times has he saved you, princess? Do it for him!"  
"OKAY!" Zelda finally yelled, her face practically soaked with tears. "Leave him alone, and I'll give it to you!" Ganondorf smiled widely, taking his foot off the Hero of Time's bloody stomach.  
"No..." Link muttered weakly, blood gurgling in his throat. "Zelda....don't...." Ganondorf turned around to kick him.  
"Ganondorf! Leave him alone!" Zelda screamed. Ganondorf sighed irritably.  
"Have it your way," He said, walking over to her. "Now give me what should have been mine form the very beginning!" Sobbing, Zelda said a few words and a soft golden glow surrounded her. A tiny golden triangle came out of her body, hovering before Ganondorf, who snatched it out of the air. The Triforce of Wisdom. Ganondorf had wanted it for years, and now his evil dream had come true. He laughed triumphantly. "Hhahahahahahahaa! Thank you very much, you little pest!" He growled, slapping her face. The triangle dissappeared instatly, and on the back of Ganondorf's right hand, the Triforce of Wisdom lit up. Ganondorf laughed as he could feel his mind learning new abilities, gaining more magic power than he ever thought he'd get. "Now only one triforce remains..." Ganondorf said, walking slowly towards Link's broken, gasping from. "And you're not about to give it to me willingly, are you?" He asked Link, not expecting an answer, not needing one. Zelda screamed in protest.  
"Ganondorf, you said-"  
"You remember what I said?!" Ganondorf yelled, cutting her off. "I said I'd leave him alone. I have left him alone for the last few moments. I said I'd help him out. Death will certainly be a great release from the pain he's feeling. I said I'd let him go, and go he will...STRAIT TO HELL!" Ganondorf ripped the Sword of Evil's Bane out of its scabbard, lifting it above his head, preparing to cut Link right in half as he put a boot on the Hylian's neck to hold him still. He started to laugh maniacally. "Hahahahaha....hahahahahahaha! HAH HAH HAHAHAHAHAAA! AAAHHHHHHH!"  
  
"I know a way not to break the barrier, but to get around it," Llance explained. "The Sage of Light's magic alone or combined with the rest of the Sage's magic will not break the barrier. If the Sage of Time were here you could do it, but she's not so we must be content with a teleportation spell. Chain's light magic will be sufficient to get two people to the other side, one being himself."  
"That will have to do, then." Darunia said. "But if he alone goes, how can we seal Ganondorf?"  
"That is possible, even with Chain by himself." Impa spoke up, and everyone turned to her. "The Sages of Light and Time will be there, the two most powerful Sages. All we have to do is send our power with Chain, and if Ganondorf is properly wounded by the Master Sword, we can seal him. It wont be like last time, though. Since only two Sages will be there, we can't imprison him in the Sacred Realm. All we can do is put a seal on him that will banish him from this plane of existance, or this demension. He will be free somewhere else, but he will never return to Hyrule."  
"Wow, I didn't know you knew so much about demensions, Impa!" Chain exclaimed. "So they really exist?"  
"They do, indeed. Zelda has seen it." The Sheikah said. "We can Seal Ganondorf out of this world forever, but in case Link needs your help, Chain, we should send a weapon along with our power."  
"An arrow!" Naburoo suggested. "To pierce his wicked heart!" Impa nodded approvingly. "So first we make a powerful aorrw for Chain to shoot, then send our power with him as he goes in?" Saria asked. Impas nodded again. The Sage of Shadow had a spare bow and arrow, and handed them to Chain. First, she put stealthy silence and swiftness into the arrow. Ruto added a poisonous liquid from a deep-water fish, and Darunia made the tip extra hard and sharp. Nabooru and Saria blessed the arrow to have true aim, adjusting the feathers for perfection. Cirokaal added ice, Taig added fire, and Chian put some of his own light magic into it. All the magics combined made it shine with a whitish-rainbow light, and Chian put it in his quiver. "So, who's going with me?" Chain asked. "**I will! I am the strongest being here**!" Cirokaal exclaimed. The Sages nodded. Together, they could defeat a dragon like Cirokaal; but one their own, none were as strong as the Royal Dragon. Llance didn't argue, he wasn't as strong as Cirokaal either. With Llance's directions, Chain created a portal with his magic that led to the other side of the barrier. As he stepped inside and Cirokaal moved to follow, something Ganondorf had said came back to Taig. Flashback Taig roared in anger.  
"You'd better get out of here, Ganondorf!" He yelled. "If you pick on me, my mom will come whether King Daphnes sends her or not!"  
"Hhahahahaha! Your mother? I could defeat Sahoriel easily!" The dark King said haughtily.  
"You're bluffing!" Link yelled. "She's way more powerful than you!"  
"That's the point, you fool! A creature with so much extra power has excess magic. It would be very easy to use her power against her in my own manipulative ways. The more power, the better!" Taig growled and glared at Ganondorf, but Link could see that the King's words had actually frightened him a bit.End  
Taig realized the thing Ganondorf had said about his mother was true for his father, as well. His father had so much extra magic Ganondorf could use it against him, creating one or more huge shade-dragons. That would only make the siduation inside the castle worse, if possible. Taig didn't want his father to die, so he did something he knew he would probably regret later. Before anyone could move to stop him he jumped in front of his dad, into the portal.  
  
"So what's the birght idea?" Feelock asked Raykel, who's griffon was hovering next to him. The cries and blood of war made the air thick with misery. The fighting was as brutal as ever. "Well," Raykel began, "You know how Ganondorf and his minions have been able to make shades, creatures out of black magic? Sahoriel has light magic, but doesn't know as much about the shades as you since you watched Ganon make them, right?" Feelock nodded. "So go and tell her how Ganondorf made the shades, and perhaps she can make creatures out of light!" "Say, that isn't a bad idea," Feelock said approvingly. "We'll try it." Feelock flew to Sahoriel and Raykel returned to Cyphas, who was fighting alongside Saroe and Coflix on her griffon, the three of them taking on a rather large demondragon. Raykel helped them, and after a few close calls and powerful spells (which only hit thier target because of Cyphas and Raykel's distracting the beast) the demondragon was defeated. Raykel looked around. Despite the army's efforts, they still weren't doing any better than the dragons. If things continued this way, they and the demondragons would annihilate eachother, rendering useless anything the Sages and Hero of Time were doing to defeat Ganondorf. Then he heard a cry of gladness and looked upward to where Feelock and Sahoriel were. He saw a dragon made of pure shining magic gliding gracefully over the field. It struck out at a demondragon and killed it with lightening swiftness. It was a success! Sahoriel, smiling broadly at Raykel, began to make more.  
  
Ganondorf screamed in agony as a swift, sharp, shining arrow plunged into his left breast. His hands released the hilt of his upraised sword, which dropped with a loud clang behind him. He screamed again, the arrow spreading fire, ice and light all over his body. He felt poison seeping into his veins and staggered backwards, falling against the wall and holding the wooden shaft. Whoever had shot the arrow had just ruined the happiest part of Ganondorf's sad existance. The enraged King glared up at the one who'd shot it. It was Chain, riding on Taig's back (Ganondorf quickly cursed the fact that Taig was there instead of one of his parents. If a Royal Dragon had come, he could've created many shades). _The Dragonlord! How can that brat possibly be alive? I fed him to my blasted dragon!_ The Evil King slumped against the wall, slowly beginning to pull the arrow out.  
"Oh my gosh, Link!" Chain yelled, seeing the limp, bleeding form on the ground that was his brother. "**Say something, buddy**!" Taig yelled, running to Link. Link managed to move his head a bit, looking up at Taig and Chain. A tear rolled down his pallid, bloody cheek.  
"Chain...you're alive..." He whispered, trying to swallow and choking.  
"Oh gosh, Link...look at you! Gosh..." Chain muttered, near tears himself as he put a hand over his mouth. Link looked like he wouldn't make it. Chain wanted to hug his brother, but was afraid it would do more damage. He really wished he had spent more time learning healing spells! Taig moaned in worry and sorrow as he looked at Link.  
"SAGE OF LIGHT!" Ganondorf roared, standing up. He had pulled the arrow out, blood pouring from the wound. It had hit him right where his heart was! _How can he still be alive?_ Chain wondered. Ganondorf laughed.  
"There is only one weapon capable of injuring me badly," Ganondorf said. Chain looked behind him and to the right, where the Master Sword was laying. "And the only one who can wield it is dying. YOU ARE A FOOL!" Chian and Taig were suddenly filled with an instense fear as the King of Evil, who had just stood right up and laughed after recieving a mortal blow, stomped toward them.  
"S-shoot, now what? I can't seal him if he's not wounded by the Master Sword, and Link...well, look at him!" Chain said, still on Taig's back as the dragon backed up. "**I hear ya, man. W-what do we do**?" Taig asked worriedly, his voice shaking.  
"Taig, Chain! Set me free, I can help!" The two turned to find Zelda chained to the wall. However, they were not close enough to her to get to her before Ganondorf got to them. The King dashed over to the two, wrapping his huge arms around Taig's neck and lifting him over his shoulder, slamming the young dragon into the ground. Chain went flying off him, landing a few feet away. Taig jumped up and tried to get out of Ganondorf's reach, but the huge man took hold of the dragon's horn and shocked him with the blackest, most evil magic, then hurled him into the wall next to Zelda with a loud crash. The dragon slumped to the floor, unconscious. "Taig! Aw crud," Chain growled, getting to his feet and trying to chant a spell. Ganondorf let out a short, quick laugh and gripped his throat, not letting him finish.  
"Fool...did you really think you could meddle with destiny? It is my fate to rule this land, and you're not going to stop me, Dragonlord!" Chain kicked at Ganonodorf and stuggled, but nothing he did worked. Ganondorf dragged Chain along as he strode towards Zelda and Taig, powering up his free fist with an alarmingly large amount of black power. "Since I hate Link the most out of all of you, I'll make him watch you all die before I kill him. I'll end this now, I've got a country to conquer!" Link raised his head a bit, worry and anger rising inside him as Ganondorf neared his friends. Chain was coughing and pulling on his Ganon's wrist in desparation. Taig was unmoving. Zelda was staring into his eyes, her pretty blues filled with sorrow and fear. _He's going to kill them all_, Link thought. _He's going to murder them right before my eyes. Then he'll kill me. Then he'll have all three triforces. Then he'll cover all of Hyrule in a second black age, destroying the innocent and ruling in evil...I CAN'T LET HIM DO THIS! I'm the one the goddesses chose...Even if I have no strength left, I have to try something! I've gotta fight until the bloody end!!_ Link didn't have the magical strength or concentration to make a light arrow at the moment, so he did the next thing he could think of. Defying the excruciating pain that filled his body with every move Link made, he got to his feet. He ignorred the blood leaking from his mouth and every cut he had, ignorred the squishy feeling in his gut as he ran over and threw himself in front of Ganondorf.  
"NO!" Was all he said, his shaking body the only thing between Ganondorf and his targets.  
"Link, you would use what's left of your own life to shield theirs...Well, fine." The King said quietly. "If you wish to be thier shield, you will shatter!"  
  
**Section 11 **

**The Bloody End**  
  
Not even hesitating a moment, Ganondorf concentrated the black power on his fist into a ball, throwing it at Link. Chain struggled wildly and tried to stop him from throwing it, but his efforts were futile. The black mass of power hit Link full-force. A bright explosion resulted, making all who's eyes were open shut them and avert their faces. Ganondorf was blown back a few feet, and Zelda gasped as the force of the blast hit her.  
"Liiiink!" She yelled, trying to see him through the fading brightness. Her eyes widened in shock, Link was still standing! His body had a strange light glow spread over it, the triforce on the arc of his left hand glowing brightly. Two beautiful white, feathery wings had somehow grown on his back, but he didn't notice them. He was glaring at Ganondorf.  
"What in the name of shades..." Ganondrof grumbled, lowering his arm from over his eyes as the light dimmed to a standable level. "What?! Link! No! This is not possible..." He was enraged to see Link standing, feeling that something greatly satisfying had been denied him: the sight of the boy's corpse. Chian would have been overjoyed to see Link alive, but he couldn't see much at all as his sight darkened and his arms lowered to his sides slowly.  
"Let Chain go," Link said, standing to his full height. Through the whitish-green aura Ganondorf could see that Link still had all his wounds. They just didn't seem to be hurting him. Suddenly Link was right next to him. What the? I didn't even see him move! And whats with the wings? I did not read of this in my books...Ganondorf thought, frowning. Despite his doubt of Link's strength (glowing or not, he was still bleeding all over the floor) Ganondorf could feel that this strange new power was not to be trifled with. "Too late." Link gripped the arm that was holding Chain in the air, roughly twisting it. Letting out a short yell, Ganondorf was forced to drop Chian. He pulled his arm out of Link's grip, staring at him incredulously.  
"Chain, are you okay?" Link asked his half-throttled brother, who was flat on the ground, gasping and coughing. After a moment he lifted his head and looked at Link.  
"Yeah, I'll be alright." His voice sounded hoarse, making Link flinch. "Link, you're glowing again...like when you fought Dark Link...but you have wings!"  
"It is the Triforce of Courage," Zelda spoke up. "Link is finally using it's true power." She watched in awe.  
"Well then, so this is the power of the Triforce of Courage? Making your body glow in the dark and growing some cute feathery wings? I'll show you true power." The triforces of Wisdom and Power began to flash erratically on Ganondorf's hand. Link watched grimly as a purplish-black haze surrounded Ganondorf.  
"Link, watch out! He's using both triforce to transform, like last time! But he's using the Triforce of Power and his black magic to pervert Wisdom! This beast will be a whole lot tougher than the old GANON..." Zelda said, twisting uncomfortably. As the blackness around Ganondorf grew in size and thickness, Link jumped over to where the Master Sword was laying. He had jumped over twenty feet in one bound! The wings were quite useful for jumping, but Link knew they weren't big enough to make him actually fly for long. But he didn't need to. The new power he felt coursing through his body allowed him amazing speed and agility, as well as an unfathomable amount of light magic. He picked up the sword, which glowed brightly at his touch. He then turned back to the fourty-foot tall mass of blackness Ganondorf was in as it began to dissapate. Before it was gone, Ganondorf stepped out of it, and Link could see that the blackness wasn't the only thing fourty feet tall. _He's enormous! But even if he's got two triforces and is about five times bigger than last time, I have to stop him. There's no other option,_ Link knew. Ganondorf had turned into a towering, beastly monster. His nose was still upturned in a rather pig-like way, but the rest of his head resembled a dragon's. He had greenish-black scales covering his whole body, and his only clothes were two wrist coverings and a Gerudo loincloth. His spikey arms held two very large swords (that appeared from nowhere, just like last time) and his muscular legs ended in claws rather than hooves. His entire spine was covered with spikes, and he had two torn-up-looking feathery black wings on his back that were far too small for flying. Link could see all his huge, razor sharp teeth as he leaned his head back and roared, slicing at the air in a very rageful way with his swords. The roar was a perfect cue for Link, who jumped at the wall next to him and sprung off of it, leaping all the way up to GANON's ugly head. He cut the beast across the face, the wound glowing with light and burning the creature. The pig-dragon swung at Link as he jumped off his head, landing behind him. Link landed right next to the beast's weak spot, his tail, and cut at it. "GRRRRAAAAHHHHH!" GANON roared in pain, and turning around as quick as his bulk would allow and attempting to cut Link with a downward strike. However, he was far too slow and Link jumped out of the way, grinning.  
"Looks like you traded all your speed for some useless extra power!" He called, jumping off another wall and cutting Ganon's shins. The monster hissed in irritation and made a grab for him, which of course missed. "What, can't you even talk? What a boar!" Link said as the beast tried to step on him, and he rolled out of the way, cutting GANON's toe. "Come on, slowpoke! I thought it would be hard to beat you with your new triforce!" The pig-dragon roared and twisted in fury as Link rebouded around the room, giving him cuts everywhere. He nearly hit Link twice, but his rage only grew as he missed again and again. Finally Link began to get tired of inflicting minor wounds, and plunged the blade into GANON's side. GANON tried to swat him, but he pulled his blade out quickly and jumped over to GANON's shoulder, re-inserting the blade there. The beast roared and as Link tried to yank the blade out it got caught between two thick, armor-like scales. After a second he freed the blade but by then GANON's stroke nearly had him. Link jumped off the shoulder and GANON's wrist hit him, sending him tumbling backwards in the air. As he righted himself and landed on the wall, GANON threw a huge sword at Link, which hit the wall a few inches from Link's head. He gasped and moved away from the blade, and since he was beginning to fall he opened his wings and jumped at GANON. This time GANON was ready, opening his wide mouth and spewing flames at Link. The flames covered the Hylian and he fell out of the air, hitting the ground with a thud. The fire didn't hurt, but Link could see it had burnt him a bit and obviously stopped his flying jump. GANON once again tried to step on Link, but he moved and jumped upward, drving the Master Sword into the Evil King's chest.  
"AAAAAAhhhhhh!" The beast screeched, hurting Link's sensitive ears. As he pulled his blade out and tried to get away, GANON reached down and snatched him out of the air.  
"Not good!" Link said, twisting to get free, but one of his wings was trapped, and he was no match for GANON's muscles. "Crud! I shouldn't have taunted him so much..." The Hylian grimaced as GANON began to crush him. It didn't hurt, but it was getting really hard to breathe.  
"Oh no, Link! Put him down, you monster!" Chain yelled, but couldn't do much since all his power was focused on the sealing spell he would soon cast if he got the chance. His brother's free wing flapped madly and he struggled violently as GANON raised him over his open mouth. "Yikes!" Link yelled, looking into GANON's deep throat. "Aw, man...you have some _stinky_ breath!" Growling, GANON released Link into his mouth, bitting down. Link twisted out of the gaping jaw, but the only way out made him fly right into GANON's hand again. GANON grabbed at Link and succeeded in getting a leg, and threw him into a nearby wall. After the impact Link fell to the ground, extremely glad he couldn't feel pain because if he could, that would have really hurt. It was time to finish the fight before he got any more blows like that, or he might lose his power. Link launched himself strait at GANON's face.  
_No! This foolish little brat is going to kill me! I've gotta get rid of him, now!_ GANON opened his mouth and breathed fire once again, but this time it was lethal black fire. And this time Link had the prescence of mind to remember how to counter it. He drove his blade through the center of the fire, making it explode in GANON's face. Then he flew through the smoke, slamming his sword into GANON's forehead. The beast froze, his red eyes piercing into Link's. Then his voice exploded in a display of his agony, screaming madly.  
"Yes! You did it, Link! Now make him detransform by hitting the triforces!" Zelda yelled, and her melodic voice was berely heard over GANON's screams of pain. Link pulled his blade out and leapt back, careful of GANON's wildly swinging arms. As he jumped to GANON's right hand and put a slash across the arc of it, an arm hit him, sending him crashing into the ceiling. GANON collapsed, his body shrinking. Link's body put cracks in the ceiling as it hit it, and he collapsed as well, falling to the ground. "Link!" Zelda yelled, but smiled a bit when Link stood up. The Hylian strode slowly over to Ganondorf, who had shrunk instantly back into himself. Ganondorf coughed some blood and looked weakly up at Link as he reached him. The Gerudo put a hand over the hole in his chest and flinched when he felt the Master Sword on his neck. His vision was fading, but even now the Evil King would survive if left alone. One last strike was all that sepparated him from death.  
"Give Zelda her triforce back, and free her." Link commanded. Ganon grimaced in hatred and anger, a soft golden glow surrounding him. A tiny golden triangle levitated out of his body, dissappearing in a blue flash and returning to Zelda. The metal bands on her wrists and legs opened, and she dropped to the ground. Ganondorf looked at Link's body through the white aura surrounding him and smiled grimly. The Hylian's blood was spilling onto the floor around him. "What are you smiling for, pig? You're at my mercy."  
"Look at yourself...you pathetic boy....as soon as that light fades, you'll die too. I haven't lost." Link glared into Ganondorf's lunatic yellow and blood red eyes.  
"Yes you have. And now I'll....And now..." Link couldn't say the words he'd been planning to say. He couldn't say, 'I'll kill you'. His features softened. "What am I doing..? Even if you're a monster...even if you've killed so many...you're still a person, and you can still decide to quit. I can't take that choice from you...I can't kill you and doom you to the fate you've built for yourself." Link dropped the Master Sword in horror. What was he turning into, some kind of murderer?  
"Don't be -cough- pathetic," Ganondorf muttered. "If you don't kill me, I'll get more powerful and -cough- kill you."  
"You're wrong about that," Chain spoke up, walking over to the two. "You'll never see Hyrule again, Ganondorf!" Chain began to weave his spell, and a white light enveloped Ganondorf. "Zelda, I need your power, too!" Chain shouted, and Zelda quickly sent some of her sage powers to the boy. Ganondorf glared at Link through the light, his red eyes narrowing in loathing. "This isn't over! Curse Zelda! Curse the Sage of Light! Curse Hyrule! CURSE YOU, LINK!!!" He screamed, then his voice faded from Hyrule forever in a bright flash. Chain collapsed, the mental power required for the spell weakening him. Link knew Chain would be alright though, as the light around himself began to fade as well. He started to walk towards Zelda (who was staring in wonder at the place Ganon had last been) but didn't make it quite there before the light around him vanished along with his wings and invulnerability. He fell to the ground with a groan as his strength left him, and Zelda screamed, running to him.  
"Oh no...please no..." Zelda moaned, kneeling next to Link. She turned him over gently as he coughed blood and a pool began to form around him. She hadn't realized how hurt he was through all that light, but now that she saw the extent of his injuries, she realized she may not have been able to save him even if she could cast spells. "Say something, Link!" Tears came to her eyes instantly, streaming down to fall apon the dying Hero of Time. After all that he'd done, all that he'd saved, and all that he survived...evil had finally gotten him.  
"Zelda...hi there," He muttered hoarsely, cracking a bloody smile. This only made her cry more.  
"Oh Link, how can you smile like that? You're....you're..." "Going to die?" Link coughed and Zelda sobbed. "Yeah, I know." His voice was barely loud enough to understand. "But it was...worth it. I think...I had a good life. A life spent in the defense of others is a life spent well...."  
"What!" Zelda yelled, her shining blue eyes filled with a palpable sorrow. "Link, don't you ever think about yourself? You spent your whole life giving up luxuries and sacrificing everything!" Her voice shook. "Every bit of evil existance in Hyrule was always conspiring to kill you, to make you suffer, to deprive you of everything you want! Break you down and destroy everything you are! And now that it is finally successful..." She lowered to a whisper. "All you can say is that you had a good life...Don't leave me! Don't you dare leave me like this!" Not even thinking about Link's blood soaking her, Zelda hugged him and cried on his chest. "I'm afraid...I don't have a choice." Link said, his blood gurgling in his throat and his chest trembling with every shallow breath. "But there's something...I need to tell you...before I...go." Zelda opened her wet eyes, sitting up and cradling Link's head. "I wanna say sorry...that I never showed you my feelings, Zelda." He said, choking and turning his head to spit blood.  
"What do you mean?" She asked, voice cracking. There was so much blood she had a hard time believing it was all his.  
"Well...I'm going to be really honest...I love you, Zelda." He said, staring into her eyes as he swallowed thickly. "I...always have. I just didn't think I was good enough....a commoner, you know...I didn't think...you'd take me." Zelda sobbed, hugging him again.  
"Link, you are anything but common! You're the most noble person in this country, far more so than any stupid royalty! You thought I wouldn't take you? I love you, you...you silly boy!" She yelled, her histerical voice muffled by Link's tunic.  
"You...do?" He asked, his half closed deep blue eyes looking into hers again as she raised her head to look at him. Her tears had mixed with the blood on her face from hugging him. While one hand held Link's head, the other held his hand.  
"Of course. How could I not? Link...." Her tears fell on his face. "You are beautiful. Wonderful. Brave. Silly. Funny. Strong. Kind....A hero. And even though you never listen to my warnings and you frustrate me until my head's ready to explode... you are everything I love, packed into one little Hylian." She smiled. "I'll always love you." Link raised a shaking hand and placed it on the side of her soft, wet face.  
"Same here, Zel." She leaned down and they kissed, and just for a moment, Link thought he had died and gone to heaven. All of the happy, pleasurable things he had done in his life felt like nothing compared to the bliss of expressing his feelings for Zelda. He had been consumed with love for her ever since they met, and it had burned him like a flame every time he had suppressed it, wanting Zelda to marry someone who deserved her. But now he knew the truth, all she had ever wanted was him, and all he had ever wanted was her. It fit. It was heaven. Then, heaven dissappeared with a wave of pain as everything was enveloped in blackness. Link went limp, his hand dropping from Zelda's face. His body lowered to the ground, amongst the pool of his blood.  
"No..." Zelda whispered, hugging his still form and shaking with sadness. "No...LIIIIIINK!" She buried her head in his chest, screaming. "No, NO! Why do you have to go now?! Why? Why does he have to go, dieties?! He did your work all his life, and now you let him die like this! BLAST YOU!" Her stength spent from crying and screaming, Zelda sighed and rested her head on Link. She was unaware of the fact that as she leaned on him, her body shimmered with a bluish light, her triforce glowing softly. Taig was slowly beginning to waken, and he thought he was still dreaming as he saw Zelda glow brightly and trancelucent, feathery wings spread open from her back. Then the glowing and wings were gone, and Taig came fully awake, sitting up. Chain awoke as well, rubbing his throbbing head. Slowly, dread rising within their chests, they walked to Zelda; still sobbing over Link's unmoving body.  
  
Impa gasped in surprise as suddenly the blackish-purple barrier over the castle faded. All of the Sages had been sitting by, trying hard to see what was going on inside with their power and failing. Llance and Cirokaal couldn't do anything either, but everyone jumped to their feet as the barrier dissappeared. A few minutes ago they had felt a strange dark shock which worried them greatly, but their hope returned as they saw someone coming out of the castle. Anticipation and gladdness filled them as they saw Taig, Chain and Zelda coming, but their smiles quickly faded and thier hope died stillborn as they saw the saddened looks on the three friends's faces, the trail of blood following Taig, and the limp figure on his back. Everyone was silent as Taig walked up to them, and they saw the Hero of Time, dead. Their mouths fell open in disbelief, their minds not accepting what they saw. Llance was the only one who didn't react that way, instead walking over to Taig and putting a hand on Link's cold face. He closed his eyes and his hand remained there a few moments, then his eyes opened and he spoke.  
"Link is not completely dead!" He announced, to the amazement and gladness of the surrounding creatures. But all of them knew that even together they didn't have the power to heal him... "There is a...strange magic covering him. It is as if the time within his body has stopped." This comment was met by confused stares. "Zelda is the Sage of Time..." Llance looked at her. "Only she could do this. The time in his body froze right before he died, so he is not dead yet." Zelda looked bewildered.  
"But I can't cast spells for another twenty minutes!" She explained.  
"That is true, but this is no learned spell, nor anything which took mana to cast. This is a strange magic...born of your love, your Sage of Time powers, and your Triforce of Wisdom combined. If you remove the spell, I can heal him." Zelda didn't really know how to remove the spell or how she had created it in the first place, but she willed it to be gone and the time in Link's body returned to normal. Llance quickly used the most powerful healing spell he knew, and Link's wounds began to close and heal. "It is a good thing Ganondorf used magical creatures from my country as generals," Llance said, reffering to the unicorn, albino keaton, moko, and lavakatt. "In addition to the stars, the magical creatures of my country give us Kaarineans power, and if they were not within twenty miles of me, I couldn't make a spell powerful enough to save him." Within a matter of moments, his body was whole. Everyone held their breaths, wondering if the spell had allowed him to live, healing him before he could die. They sighed in relief as his blue eyes twitched and opened slowly. "Huh? I was....dead..." Link sat up, looking around. He slid slowly off Taig's back, keeping a hand on the dragon to support himself. "Hi everybody," He said, grinning. "LINK!" Everyone but Zelda, Llance and Cirokaal ran to Link, surrounding him in a large sage-and-dragon group hug. He smiled, swaying a bit and laughing. "Okay okay, I need some room to breath here!" Everyone got off Link but Chain, and Link hugged him tightly. Finally they let go of eachother and Link ruffled Chain's short hair. "Thought I'd lost you. I guess I should've known it wouldn't be that easy." He said, smiling jokingly.  
"Yeah...." Chain muttered, grinning crookedly. "Can't get rid of me without some effort! But as much as I'd like to tackle you, I think there's someone else who wants the pleasure of squeezing you right now," Chain said, gesturing towards Zelda. Everyone backed away and Link saw her standing there with her hands clasped over her chest, trying hard not to burst into tears again.  
"Aw, Zel..." He walked up to her slowly and took her hand. "Don't cry." "Oh, Link!" Zelda threw herself on her love, hugging him and crying into his tunic. He embraced her as well and stroked her soft golden hair, the two standng there, clinging to eachother for several moments. Then Zelda let go and looked at the dusty ground, and Link put a hand on her face, wiping some tears away with his thumb and lifting it gently. He pressed his lips to hers, and the two enjoyed the bliss of the moment, oblivious of the staring eyes of the sages and dragons. Taig watched the deep, affectionate kissing for a moment, shuddering and thinking of Faraws.  
"It's so beautiful," He said, wiping his eye. Then he snapped out of it. "All right, break it up, break it up!" The dragon said sternly, walking around and shooing everyone away. "Stop staring, ya bunch of google-eyed turkeys!"  
  
**Epilogue**  
  
Link sighed contentedly and leaned his head back on the cool stone behind him, eyes on the setting sun. He hugged Zelda closer to him as she slept. It was the second time she had fallen asleep on his lap while watching the sunset that week, and he didn't blame her. It had been two weeks since Ganondorf had been sealed out of Hyrule forever, and the place was starting to look bright again. With the help of Raykel's idea, the war over Hyrule castle had been won, the demondragons driven away or killed until none remained. Though many lives have been lost in that battle (and a week ago they had held a huge funeral for the dead soldiers and King), everyone was glad it was finally over. Raykel had been promoted to Royalty Bodyguard as well as two other soldiers, and those three along with the two King's Royal Bodyguards that hadn't died made up Zelda's bodyguard group. They, with Impa, followed her nearly everywhere she went when she wasn't in her room (or on the balcony with Link, as she was now). Sohran had been promoted to Captain of the Royal Guard, and Cyphas had enlisted in the Royal Guard (even thought she was a female, the law permitted her. It had permitted females since the days of Link's mother, but for some reason no women had joined since then other than Cyphas). Malon had indeed finally found her knight in shining armor, and began to spend more and more time with Chain as he helped her take care of the baby animals from Kaarinea and raise new horses. Speaking of Kaarinea, the Kaarinean people and Llance were grateful to Link for destroying Ganon (who would have undoubtedly decimated their small country), and the royalty of Kaariena along with Llance were planning to visit soon and thank Link formally. After the funeral had taken place all of the non-Hylian races had left the castle, returning to their own homes. Feelock and Tarisla had become the new foreign representatives of Catalin, and Taig was on his way to becomming King of Dragons someday with his developing relationship with Faraws. Hyrule Field was already springing some grass, and everyday Link, Zelda, Chain, Raykel and Cyphas went to help rebuild Castletown or Kakariko (which explained why the Princess was so tired). Many calwots, dragons and griffons also came over every day to help rebuild Hyrule. With all the help, the country would be rebuilt in a matter of months. After Ganon had been banished all the monsters also left, so Hyrule was now a peaceful and mostly safe place, even at night. Ganon's castles had been ripped down by dragons, and the Gerudos had retreated into their fortress, breaking off contact with everyone. No-one was sure if they would ever come out and be part of Hyrule again, or what decision Zelda would make regarding letting them do that. Link still worried about the powerful 'friend' Ganondorf had talked about, but right now he had other things to focus on... like the beautiful woman in his arms. He sighed again and kissed the top of her head, then rested his own on hers, drifting into a peaceful sleep.  
  
Note by the author: DANG that was corney! I hope you corn-lovin people liked it, cuz it will make by brother puke. But anyways, I appreciate any and all feeback, flames (reasonable ones) and compliments alike. This story originally didn't have so much fluff in it, but I added some do to the request of one of my readers . lol I just hope it was action-packed enough to counter all the corny fluff! Thanks for reading! Talonclawfange


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